News Flash

City residents are invited to discuss gun violence in Winston-Salem with members of the Police Department and others during a virtual Trust Talk at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16 via Zoom. 

To participate, send an email by Nov. 12 to Pam Peoples-Joyner at pjoyner@wspd.org, or call her at 336-773-7962.

Trust talks, jointly organized by the Winston-Salem Human Relations Commission & Department and the Winston-Salem Police Department, provide an opportunity for members of the community to engage directly with the law enforcement community in a frank, mutually respectful and open dialogue. 

This trust talk is a little different than usual in that the organizers are addressing a topic of broad community concern and soliciting the participation of the public at large, said Wanda Allen-Abraha, the director of Human Relations. “Most of our trust talks are closed sessions with specific groups, such as college students, or clergy,” Allen-Abraha said. “However, the recent gun violence is affecting everyone in our community, and everyone has a role to play in how we address it.”

The trust talk will include a time for participants to share their first-hand experiences with gun violence and share solutions in small group discussions, and then as a whole-group discussion. Information about community resources available to citizens affected by gun violence will also be shared. 

  The Human Relations Department has been organizing trust talks since 2011 as a way to foster communication between law enforcement and the community.