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The Bartlesville Police Department is launching a diversity outreach effort so that they can begin reaching out to leaders in the African American, Asian, Hispanic American, Indian and LGBTQ communities.

Bartlesville Police Chief Tracy Roles and Detective Jim Warring met with many of these community leaders at the police department last week. Roles hopes this communication will help bridge cultural divides and lead to a better understanding of challenges that Bartlesville’s more diverse populations face.

“There are some cultures where looking people in the eye is something you don’t do, but we are trained to believe that someone who won’t look us in the eye could be lying or have something to hide," Roles said. "Something as simple as that could have a huge impact on how a situation is handled. These are the types of things we need to understand better.”

The group will meet regularly for further discussions and to ultimately participate in a public forum to address questions from the community.