FERGUSON, Mo. — Tuesday night the City of Ferguson hosted several National Night Out gatherings for residents and the police department to get together.
It's been somewhat of a tough year for the City of Ferguson and its police department after Officer Travis Brown was injured by a protester on the anniversary of Michael Brown's death, making events like National Night Out even more important.
“People that live in Ferguson, they're very passionate about this community, and they want to see good things, not only out of this community, they want to see good things out of this police department. I think over the past year and a half we've been able to enhance those relationships, and our goal is to continue to improve,” Ferguson Police Chief Troy Doyle said.
Cassandra Butler is one of those passionate residents.
She's on the Police Steering Committee and offered to co-host one of the National Night Out gatherings.
“Our neighborhood hasn't had one in at least 20 years. And there's a lot of new neighbors and some older neighbors, so it's just good for us to come out and meet each other,” Butler said.
Chief Doyle and a small group from the police department stopped at three different neighborhoods to talk with residents, not only to meet them but also to hear their concerns.
“Before the inventions of the computers and stuff in the cars, officers got out of their cars, and they did a lot of these type of things. So we have got to get back to doing these things. We realize how important it is,” Doyle said.
Butler said she's seen positive change in the Ferguson Police Department and believes what they're doing is working.
“I'm pretty pleased with the police department we have now. And it is not the police department we had in 2014 or 2017 when we had the consent decree. So we are changing. We are getting better but we still have more to do,” Butler said.