C District Police Chief Thelma Jones is Cleaning Up Buffalo
by Betty Jean Grant
Betty Jean Grant
Oh, I know I got everyone’s attention now! Yes, the police officer in charge of the C- District Police Station is a woman, a black woman, and she is literally cleaning up this city in more ways than one. And, in her usual approach to community engagement and outreach, she is doing the job—not by using the tools of her trade, her badge or her gun— but with a broom and a rake!
This writer was driving down East Ferry St. near Fillmore Ave., several days ago, when I spotted a blue suited female using a broom and a rake to pick up the debris that had littered the grounds around the C District station house. The woman with the beautiful, blonde hair tied in a ponytail, looked familiar. I recognized her as the Chief of Police for that station house. Wow, Chief Jones working that broom like that, instead of designating one of her lower ranked officers to attend to the task, was like Mayor Sean Ryan taking a push broom and sweeping in front of Buffalo City Hall! That is a good thing to imagine, and it would be fun to watch, but I am sure we will not see this happening anytime soon.
This very heartwarming display of Chief Jones and the C District being ‘good neighbors’ by cleaning up around their station house is a show of love, respect, support, and the connection they have with the community around them. The C District Police Station is also a place where block clubs and other community organizations may use to host meetings and workshops. Also, in the summer, the police officers assigned there puts on a Community Day event for the kids and other folk— food, raffles, games, bicycle giveaways and information distributed to the participants. Last year, the C District Police Station hosted a fun and food community affair on Jefferson Ave, in support of the weekly Friday Night Live dance and music event that starts in June.
Chief Thelma Jones is a ‘hands on’ type of law enforcement officer. As a member of the Juneteenth Board of Directors, this writer has seen, firsthand, how she gets personally involved in trying to maintain order and safety when some of our wayward youths start to get out of line. She does not just sit at her desk at C District during the festival; she is out there, in the park, directing her officers and working with Juneteenth’s Public Safety Officer Murray Holman, Pastor James Giles & the Peace Keepers’ group and also paid, private security, to ensure that, with the community’s involvement and support, the 2-day festival remains safe and secure for all to come, celebrate and enjoy.
Most of us equate ‘cleaning up’ Buffalo by the police as officers travelling across the city getting rid of drugs and guns and putting criminals behind bars. That is a good analogy but isn’t it wonderful that we can picture a hard-working police chief, who with her rake and her broom, has made more of a positive impact on a good relationship between police officers and the community they serve than a gun and a badge could ever do.