91短视频

鈥淭his is the first of its type,鈥� said HPD Lt. Kurt Boshart, who announced the event at City Council鈥檚 meeting Tuesday. 鈥淲e鈥檙e fortunate to have it right here in the Harrisonburg area.鈥�

Among the departments planning to attend are ones from Chicago, Kalamazoo, Mich., Davis, Calif., Fairfax and Norfolk.

In March 2015, HPD launched its restorative justice program, which is an alternative to the traditional criminal justice system. Instead of strictly looking to punish an offender, the program鈥檚 goal is to address the needs of the victims, offenders and the community at large to resolve a crime.

A mediator, offender and victim discuss the effects of the harm done by the crime and create a resolution. Both the victim and offender must agree to participate.

The city鈥檚 program works in collaboration with several groups, including the Fairfield Center, 91短视频, James Madison University and Harrisonburg City Public Schools.

鈥淲e鈥檙e really looking at changing a mindset and how we handle criminal justice,鈥� Boshart said.

At the retreat, chiefs and top-ranking officers from the departments will discuss pitfalls, successes and ways to improve restorative justice practices.

Although it has had only about 10 cases, Boshart said HPD is seeing successful outcomes. He pointed to a case involving a JMU student who approached the police department about going through the program.

The man was at a party when he was assaulted by an acquaintance who was intoxicated.

Boshart said the victim said that because he knew the suspect, he didn鈥檛 want to bring charges. Instead, he thought there was a better option.

鈥淗e said he didn鈥檛 want anything done to the offender because he wanted to go through restorative justice,鈥� Boshart said.

The effects of restorative justice, he said, are being seen in the city鈥檚 schools, but statistics aren鈥檛 available.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to put a number on those situations,鈥� Boshart told council. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to build a statistic on something that鈥檚 changing behavior [in a classroom].鈥�

The department鈥檚 program has had shortcomings, he said.

Originally, HPD had patrol officers identify cases to be referred to the restorative justice program, but the department is looking to change that.

鈥淚nstead of trying to push it from the bottom up, we鈥檙e trying to get more of our [department] supervisors involved,鈥� said Boshart, adding they will be looking through reports and referring offenders to restorative justice when appropriate rather than recommending charges.

On Wednesday, 20 HPD supervisors were trained to evaluate reports and pass along those that might qualify.

Councilman Kai Degner expressed concerns about the program鈥檚 limited use last month during a Community Criminal Justice Board meeting. He then requested a report from HPD.

罢耻别蝉诲补测鈥檚 meeting appeared to alleviate those concerns.

Degner said he鈥檚 heard of the success stories in the area, but the key, he said at the meeting, is to share those experiences.

鈥淭hey seem like they are really important to the culture change,鈥� he said.

Boshart agreed, saying word-of-mouth will help bolster the program.

鈥淚t鈥檒l transform itself,鈥� he said.