Churches want chief open to restorative justice James Call, Tallahassee Democrat USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA 8/20/2019 A coalition of churches is pushing the principles of restorative justice while the city of Tallahassee searches for a new police chief. A half-dozen churches and the Florida Restorative Justice Association spent Monday promoting an alternative to incarceration for fighting crime. The group used statistics from Longmont, Colorado’s 25-year experiment with restorative justice principles — such as victim-offender dialogues and victim input on restitution — to argue for a similar program in Tallahassee. Tallahassee makes up most of Leon County, which has posted the state’s highest crime rate for five years. Mike Butler, the chief of public safety for Longmont, said in more than 6,000 cases where restorative principles were used, the repeat offender rate was only 10% and victim satisfaction registered 95%. “You look at those numbers and that’s why you see police officers say, ‘Hey this works,’” said Butler. Butler was the featured speaker at a town forum Monday night sponsored by the coalition, which included Good Samaritan United Methodist Church, Good Shepherd Catholic Parish, Faith in Public, United Church in Tallahassee and the Florida Restorative Justice Association. Restorative Justice puts a focus on harm repair – the victim having a voice in the process, and face-toface conversation between the victim and offender. After such interaction, restorative justice advocates argue, the offender is less likely to offend again. “You feel more of a sense of connection to community, more of a sense of accountability and more of a sense of impact of your action and what you do matters, for better or worse,” explained Dan Kahn of the Florida Restorative Justice Association. “So I think you are going to behave differently in that community following that activity, rather than if you just say, ‘Well, I did wrong and now I have to pay for it in a sort of an abstract incarcerated way.’” Restorative justice techniques are employed in Leon County diversion programs for at-risk teens. Other communities use them in programs for adults. Kahn said there are restorative programs in place in Broward, Alachua and Duval, and that there is growing interest among Florida cities. Tallahassee is expected to hire a new police chief by the end of the year and Kahn and others want the search criteria to include support for restorative justice principles. They hope to triple the number of communities using restorative justice over the next two years. “This is not going to be a top down solution. It’s not going to come from public policy makers,” said Pete Butzin of United Church in Tallahassee, about a restorative approach to justice. “But ultimately it needs to be part of the culture of Tallahassee, Leon County and the state in general.” - - - Writer James Call can be contacted at jcall@tallahassee. com. Follow on Twitter @CallTallahassee.