For years, the city has been trying to make the police force and its fire department more reflective of the Erie community.
This event, "Answer The Call", is all about building up those efforts.

"We believe women can fight fires, and women can do police work, as well as people of color, and being able to receive information on how to get there, is a tremendous asset," President of the Erie Branch NAACP Gary Horton said.
 

The  NAACP and The City's Strengthening Police and Community Partnerships Council hosted this session, to celebrate the city's efforts to diversify law enforcement, and also give a chance to the community to connect with firefighters and police officers.

"We believe that not all police officers are bad, and not all kids are bad. And to have an opportunity where kids and people in the community together with law enforcement with an open door and a bridge to access opportunities to become a part of our fighting fire force or law enforcement is a great opportunity that we don't want to miss out on," said Horton.


This community forum is just part of a process that started about six years ago. Since July 2021, the city hired ten officers who were either minorities or women, which is a significant increase.

"We have all decided to work together, our diversity numbers have increased on our complement as a result of everybody working together, believing in the same mission, getting the right people in addition to making sure every opportunity is out there for the minority communities," Recruitment Coordinator Lt. Tom Lenox said.