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Southside Supercops Go To Mayflower Hot Zone To Make Peace
posted (March 28, 2018)
Last week we told you about the police meet and greet session on Aloe Vera and Tibruce Streets. Those areas had been witness to three murders and a number of shootings in just two weeks.

And this week, southside police went into another hotspot.

Actually, it's probably the most volatile zone right now: we're talking about the Mayflower area. Police were there for today's meet and greet.

Now if you are wondering why in the world would police ever step foot in that area again after the big GSU blowout on Sunday … the Southside commander and his team say they simply can't give up or ignore these residents no matter how tense the situation. Courtney Weatherburne has more on the hostile encounter.

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
It was chaos on Sunday when GSU officers marched into the Mayflower area - guns blazing and residents scurrying for cover.

Today, it was a different scene - there were no armed GSU officers just New Southside Commander Howell Gillett and his team sauntering into Kendis Flowers' yard. They were there to try and make peace.

But the rage Flowers' relatives and friends felt that day was still very much present today - palpable and raw.

They simply were not ready to put anything aside in the name of peace.

Sr. Supt. Howell Gillett, OC, Eastern Division South
"The healing process takes a while and it's obvious by the comments being thrown around. We don't want to aggravate it any further, we want to get the people on our side so that we can well police not only the Mayflower area but other parts of the city on the South Side particularly."

Reporter
"Would you say that this meet and greet was unsuccessful? Did you get any headway at all?"

Sr. Supt. Howell Gillett, OC, Eastern Division South
"Outwardly you might believe that there's no success at the moment but just hearing from the people of the concerns they have whether it be under stress or calm, that's a different thing, but we are hearing the things that are affecting them, we'll go back and regroup to see how we can best solve the issues affecting them in this area."

Reporter
"How do you plan to move forward? because based on what we're hearing, and as you said. The healing process it takes will take some time but based on what they're saying, it doesn't seem that it will heal anytime soon and it seems that they've lost all faith in the police department."

Sr. Supt. Howell Gillett, OC, Eastern Division South
"We have to enlist the support of other stakeholders. I believe if we enlist the support of the churches, we could get a better response from the communities. It's not all the time that people are pleased with the actions of the police. The police has a mandate to solve crime."

And the crime that Mayflower residents want police to solve is Kendis Flowers' murder. His relatives and some residents believe that the GSU killed Flowers. The police are trying to convince them otherwise

Sr. Supt. Howell Gillett, OC, Eastern Division South
"Maybe it's the part of the police for not getting back to the family and giving them an update on the case. As I know and understand, one person is being sought. There is work being done to have that person hand in himself so that some charges can be laid against him. If we don't tell the family that, then they are not aware and ignorance spreads a lot of things. I know that a video was retrieved from someone. I can't mention the entity because of security reasons, but of course that can be shown to the family to let them see first-hand what really transpired. There was this allegation that it was a police officer who did the shooting, in particularly the GSU but that has been rubbish. The investigation has shown that the police officer was not even in the country at the time the incident took place."

So for now, the police will just have to be patient with the residents and try to work with them during this healing process - the ultimate hope being to restore that police -community relationship - one that was violently ruptured on Sunday.

Regarding the Flowers case, investigators are looking for one person and as you heard police say, based on surveillance video footage, they can confirm that the GSU was not involved in Flowers murder.

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