New London — More than 50 people from New London and communities across southeastern Connecticut gathered Tuesday at a Greater New London NAACP membership meeting to discuss the national tragedies of the past week involving citizens and police, and how to respond locally.

Elected officials, representatives of the New London and Groton Town police departments and residents of New London, Norwich, East Lyme, Ledyard, Waterford and Stonington attended to offer ideas.

Suggestions included greater diversity training for police, independent civilian oversight of police complaints, more opportunities for interaction among police and youth, an agreement that students not be arrested in schools and increased foot patrols to help police better understand the communities they serve.

New London NAACP President Jean Jordan told the group she believes people are ready to change and the community must be proactive.

The nation just had three tragedies, she said, referring to the killing of five police officers and wounding of seven others in Dallas and the shooting deaths of black men by police in Minnesota and Louisiana.

Jordan said she's been stopped by police before.

“I did my, ‘Yes sir, no sir, thank you sir, here’s my license and registration,'” she told the gathering. “So we’ve all had these stops. I was lucky with mine. But other people aren’t.”

Some people now take their identification out as soon as they get in their cars, and put the identification on the dashboard so there’s no reaching for anything if they get stopped, she said.

“I know that’s sad to think that we might have to do that, but — a lot of stops, a lot of incidents happen when people are reaching for the ID that they are asked to produce,” she said.

Christina Binen, treasurer of the New London Youth Football League, said she’s raising interracial children, including a 13-year-old boy who looks older than he is.

“I am nervous for him in certain situations,” she said.

Binen said she’s against allowing police to arrest children in schools.

Jessie M. Hyslop of New London called for action.

“It’s good to sit and talk, but talk can be cheap. And we need to do more than just sit around and talk,” Hyslop said.

Jason Morris of New London said police are being asked to do more than ever before, serving as drug counselors and social workers in addition to officers.

“We have not been investing in our communities, and in our social structure as much as we should be,” Morris said.

Not every interaction with police can go perfectly, he said.

There should be a committee with some authority that can provide civilian oversight of police complaints, he said.

Groton Police Chief L.J. Fusaro said the common ground is there must be better communication between police and the public.

“I would say from a police standpoint, our greatest failures are when we don’t understand the communities that we serve," he said.

He remarked on the comments of the Dallas police chief that policing is different today than it was years ago.

“Police are asked to do many things that we didn’t have to do before. If you had told me at the start of my career that someday you could be administering drugs to people out in the field, I would have said, ‘You’re crazy.’ But we’re doing that today,” Fusaro said.

As of end of June this year, 55 police officers nationwide had been killed, not including the last seven, Fusaro said.

“It’s a challenge on both ends. There has to be some mutual understand, mutual respect,” he said.

New London Police Capt. Brian Wright said the department respects "all insight. It’s what allows us to progress and grow."

The department has resumed the “Citizens Police Academy,” which allows citizens to learn more about what police do and promote a dialogue with residents.

As of July 1, police also are referring most youths to the juvenile review board rather than arrest them if they have difficulty, Wright said.

“Every day we try to improve,” Wright said.

Regarding concerns about “bad apples” in police departments in general, he said, “Unfortunately, it does exist. We try our best to weed out those individuals. But like everything else, it’s a growing process. We’re not perfect. We strive to be so. But understand that input like this allows us to improve.”

New London Mayor Michael Passero said he was there to listen.

He said it is important not to dismiss any issue raised. “We have to redouble our efforts,” he said. “We have to communicate.”

d.straszheim@theday.com