Speakers called for community backing of police and educators Sunday at a ceremony honoring Dr. L.E. Mockley and Sheriff Fred Johnson.
The annual Law Enforcement and Education Day at Flowery Mount Missionary Baptist Church on Summit Street featured presentations from McComb school district officials, law enforcement officers and representatives from the ACLU and McComb’s Preventative Entry and Ex-Offender Re-entry Services (PEERS) program.
McComb policeman Sean A. Gill walked through the process of an arrest, explaining that as a peace-keeping official, his first priority in some cases would be to remove a detainee from the premises and answer questions once the situation had been defused.
Gill said he wanted people to understand the police are there to help.
“The authorities do not strike fear into the people who are doing right,” he said. “Do what is right and they will honor you.”
School officials echoed the call for community, with McComb’s safety liaison, Greg Gilmore, challenging the public to confront wrong, and Deputy Superintendent Levander German touting the need for constructive discipline.
Gilmore gave an example of a time he told someone he saw selling drugs to stop and then called police.
“A lot of people think that’s bold,” he said. “But I want them to know they don’t run anything. … They’re not going to break the law and make me be the one who feels uncomfortable.”
Gilmore added that talking with children could help, too.
“You’ve got to get down to their level,” he said. “They want to know that you’re human.”
German had similar words.
“I don’t know anyone that doesn’t want to come to school when they know they are a success at school,” he said. “Education is not just a school system, it’s a community. It’s churches. It’s parents. Discipline in a school system is not a cause for students dropping out, it’s why they stay.”
Moderator Dorothy Johnson’s introduction of the program could really have been a conclusion.
“We feel that you need to be educated before you do anything else,” Johnson said. “Many times education will keep you out of problems with the law.”
