With the recent murders and gun violence in Albany, I've been doing a lot of thinking on how the city can improve community-police relations. Probably the best solution is to get the police out in the community, and develop lasting relationships between police officers and families.

Police need to be proactive in communities. They should be regularly working with the local Ward leaders to knock on doors and ensure all needs are being met in the community. An officer should have a couple of blocks where he or she knows all the members of community personally and is on a friendly basis with all in community. He should know what problems individuals face, and be offering proactive solutions. Be it substance abuse, teens growing up, maternity, or unemployment, police should be out there helping solve personal and ultimately community problems.

Officers should know one a family is going to have a child, and make sure the mother is getting proper medical treatment—and if necessary talk to the family about proper nutrition and the importance of getting regular check ups whether through private insurance or public programs. Officers should find out of it families with teenagers, that the teens are attending school and not abusing drugs or alcohol. If it turns out to be a problem, the officers should be helping the teen seek counseling, through public or private programs.

Police should be bringing the family who doesn't have enough to eat on the holidays, something to ensure they have a decent holiday. They should also ensure that folks who are truly downtrodden are aware of food pantries and the social services offered by the county. When they hear somebody in the neighborhood has lost their job, the police should help them receive temporary unemployment benefits to make ends meet, and help them meet up with new career opportunities. Those that have mental illness or substance abuse problems should be offered treatment, and sent on the path towards stable housing and decent employment.

Police should not be a combative force, but a friendly force, trying to help people live a better life. Assisting all in trouble in a community may require some diversion from traditional police tasks, but it will have immeasurable results. Officers directly ingrained in the community will save lives, and will save massive amounts money by having fewer arrests, prosecuting less, and jailing fewer.