COVINA (California): The policemen in this city are all former hippies, jailbirds or bums from skid row — all courtesy of their own police department. In an experiment the 57-man force has been attempting over the last two years to understand better its likeliest antagonists by becoming them — briefly.

In the course of the experiment, called “Operation Empathy” by its creator, police chief Fred Ferguson, members of the force have been “arrested” and jailed in nearby Riverside as part of a supposed cheque forging ring. Forty of them have mingled as misfits in the seediest section of downtown Los Angeles. Some have gone on picket lines, and some have been flower children at love-ins, with beads and arm bands and psychedelic body paint picked out by Ferguson.

The department has found the experience in larger cities useful in dealing with situations in their own city. Covina has its share of crime and big-city problems such as a park that has become a narcotics nest and a place where hippies congregate. In making arrests or in dealing with those who are merely troublesome, Ferguson says, “Empathy, the understanding of another human’s feelings, can often have more impact than a show of force.” — Syndicated article

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2018