NEW YORK – Every year, seven NYPD officers and seven civilians team up to create a theater and build a bridge.
This project started 10 years ago, Reaction to the infamous Eric Garner incident. gwen carr garner’s motherwas a VIP guest at a recent rehearsal.
The performers, whether NYPD or civilians, are not actors, but are trained in acting and improvisation in a 10-week workshop called “To Protect, Serve, and Understand” (TPSU). There is. The message is that if people work together, talk to each other, and really listen, opinions can change.
“I’m so proud of them.”
“I’ve never had a good relationship with NYPD officers,” said participant Robert Jenkins.
“I have always wanted the community to understand that even though we are police officers, we are human beings,” one police officer said.
Terry Grice is the founder of TPSU in Irondale in partnership with the NYPD. It all started after seeing a video of Eric Garner being suffocated by police in 2014. Grice invited Carr to the dinner that begins each workshop, and she observed a recent rehearsal.
“Art is a healing part of my life,” Carr said. “I’m so proud of what they’ve accomplished over the last 10 years.”
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“I wanted a different perspective.”
CBS News New York’s Dave Carlin asked Grice what police officers are learning through TPSU.
“We need to overcome the obstacles posed by uniforms in order to be more effective at policing,” Grice said.
And what does Grice think private participants took away?
“Officers are people too,” Grice said.
Another participant said, “As a civilian, I wanted to see things differently.”
“We need to have a meeting of the minds. We need to bridge the gap,” Kerr said. “We have to stay on our toes. We have to keep moving forward.”
The public is invited to participate, and participation is free.
Screenings of “To Protect, Serve and Understand” will take place Friday and Saturday nights, January 17th and 18th, at the Irondale space.
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