OK Justice Circle to take OKC residents, local police for trip to Washington D.C.

A local justice group is taking several northeast Oklahoma City residents and metro area police officers to the nation's capital on a trip aimed at enhancing dialogue and establishing relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

Leaders with the OK Justice Circle said there is room for two more law officers now that Edmond Police Chief J.D. Younger has committed to sending a representative from his department and former Midwest City Police Chief Sid Porter has also agreed to join the group.

The Rev. Jon Middendorf, an OK Justice Circle member and senior minister of First Church of the Nazarene, said the weeklong trip planned for July will be free to participants. It is designed to bring Black residents from northeast Oklahoma City together with representatives from police departments for dialogue and an extended opportunity to learn more about each other and engage in empathic listening.

He said he was optimistic about the potential for connection and movement toward peace.

"The whole point of the trip is to give folks opportunities to hear one another, to see one another in a better light and then to see if friendship might work more to achieve peace than protest, and even policy work," Middendorf said. "Obviously, we still have to do the policy work and sometimes we need to do the protests. But, I don't know that we have invested in the power of connection yet the way that we could or should. I think that there might be some potential there."

Middendorf said the trip will include a visit to the White House and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, a Smithsonian Institute museum located on the National Mall. The group also will visit the National Law Enforcement Museum. The pastor said U.S. Sen. James Lankford helped the OK Justice Circle with certain aspects of the trip.

Younger, with the Edmond Police Department, said he didn't hesitant to accept the invitation for one of his officers to be part of the coming trip. He said he has been attending OK Justice Circle's Breaking Bread events. He said he felt the Washington trip was a natural evolution of those community forums.

"I think the Edmond community as a whole has the philosophy of community policing, quite simply police and community working in partnership," Younger said. "So, I think one of the foundational elements of that is for police to stay engaged and aware and constantly learning and seeking to understand different perspectives that may exist in our community."

Middendorf will be part of the OK Justice Circle trip along with Wayland Cubit, another OK Justice Circle member. Cubit, a retired Oklahoma City police lieutenant, currently serves as director of security for Oklahoma City Public Schools and is running for Oklahoma County sheriff.

"The OK Justice Circle just wants to establish relationships from unlikely places to talk about justice and unity and what that looks like for each group," he said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Justice Circle plans trip to DC for OKC police, residents