Earlier this month, El Cerrito High teacher Godholi Bose led a class of English learners, served by our coaches, in a writing exercise about crime. She asked her students to write to the mayor of a mythical urban city with observations about crime and suggestions for what to do about it. One of the writer coaches working with this class is Julie Freestone, a neighbor, as it happens, of Richmond Chief of Police Chris Magnus.
The letters the students wrote magically ended up in the hands of Chief Magnus, and before you could say "community policing," Chief Magnus had agree to show up in class and talk with the students about what they had written.
The appointed day was today, and Chief Magnus had a rapt audience in his hands as he asked students to explain their ideas about how to prevent crime. Their suggestions: better lighting in the community and around residences; home alarms; locked doors and windows; trimmed vegetation around entrances to homes; and, of crucial importance according to the Chief, people keeping an eye out for each other.
Appropriately, and in response to a question from writer coach Julie Freestone, Chief Magnus described to the class the importance in police work of writing, in successfully passing the rigorous course work in the law enforcement curriculum at colleges, universities, and police academies, and in police work itself, which requires the constant writing of reports.
"Guess where these reports end up?" asked the Chief. "Before a judge," suggested a student and Chief Magnus told him he was exactly right. "These reports have to be accurate and clear," he said, "because they could influence the outcome of a trial." Accurate and clear writing? Sounds like the Chief would make a great writer coach!
Two of the students in the class are interested in law enforcement careers, and the chance to talk with a police chief was a rare opportunity.
The message Chief Magnus conveyed resonated with the students, who swarmed him for pictures after the presentation. Said ECHS Site Coordinator Lynda Frank, "You can't believe how excited these kids were to have a chief of police actually come to their class!"
Bob Menzimer