Reedley police to attend national restorative justice retreat

The Reedley Police Department will take part in a national law enforcement retreat on restorative justice near Harrisburg, Virginia Nov. 11-13 as one of only 11 agencies in the country.

The Mennonite Central Committee in Reedley, a worldwide faith-based organization, will also be attending the retreat as part of the Reedley Peace Building Initiative.

Presentations and discussion sessions will be held concerning restorative justice. The session will be co-led by Howard Zehr, known as the “grandfather of restorative justice” due to his experience in the field since the late 1970s.

The Reedley Peace Building Initiative is a restorative justice process where parties come together to resolve the aftermath of an offense while repairing damaged relationships. It focuses on juvenile offenders, and mediation takes place between the offender, victim and a qualified conflict mediator. A contract is signed by both parties when an agreement is formed about how to restore the damage caused by the offense.

RPBI was implemented in 2010 and has received numerous awards, including the James Q. Wilson award for Community Oriented Policing presented by the California Police Chief’s Association.

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 8:45 PM with the headline "Reedley police to attend national restorative justice retreat."