Jericho - Well I think a lot of people are asking that question given the challenges the city has right now as far as the number of police officers, or lack thereof, and the growing crime problem. I was talking to one of our news anchors and asking if there was anything extraordinary that went on over night and he said 'well we had a robbery at one of the gas stations' and I said 'we'll that's pretty much common place now that happens every night unfortunately now in Springfield.' Those sorts of events... we had an armed robbery over night a guy breaks into a couple's home and robs them. These things are becoming all too common place and so it seems to me to be very timely to be discussing law enforcement and neighborhoods. Where is this meeting going to take place?

Brantley - The meeting at 7pm on Monday is going to be at the Fusion Center. The Fusion Center is at 1321 North Campbell. For those who don't know where that is, it's real easy, on the corner of  Campbell and Calhoun. There will be a building with an orange front on it. It's very simple to find. The panelists for this event, and I think it's interesting, we have tried to get a broad array of people... not just the Springfield Police Department. We have representatives coming in from the Springfield Police Department, the Greene County Sheriff's Department, the Greene County Prosecutor's Office. We have a City Council Member who will be sitting there. We have a representative from the Municipal Court who will be there and lastly, but not leastly, we have a trooper from the Missouri Highway Patrol. Any questions anybody has about anything dealing with local law enforcement it can be addressed. All the way from the Highway Patrol... what do you do in Springfield as an agency to if people have questions about maybe the effects of the Police Officers package that they have which is tied in with City Council and Springfield.

Jericho - Sure

Brantley - One can go a step beyond that. If people have questions about illegal immigration, for example, we have pretty much all the authorities there that people can ask 'where are we at and what's happening'. I know there are groups out there that have concerns about the Patriot Act and other issues like that. You know maybe they want to ask some questions like how has issues in the Patriot Act directly affect us here on the ground. 

Jericho - That's a good question. That's an excellent question.

Brantley - You have neighbors who have recently... they feel that maybe they have lost a PAR officer and they don't understand that maybe they haven't lost something but the Springfield Police Department is just repositioning resources out there.

Jericho - Sure

Brantley - So people might have questions about that. Just about anything under the sun. Now is the time to get the answers.

Jericho - So the nature of law enforcement today in Springfield is in essence what we are all about. It's not designed to be a bitch session as such but certainly legitimate questions will be entertained. 

Brantley - Oh yeah. Not a bitch session at all. Over the last two years the Neighborhood Roundtable Board Members have developed a moderation system that has proven to be quite successful. The way it works is we start off the forum and the panelist members are on the stage and they are all given two-to-three minutes to introduce themselves. Here is who I am. Here is who I represent. Here is generally what we do. And then from there we open up the floor to questions.  The way the questions work is that if audience members, or visitors, or guests, or whatever one wants to call them sitting out in the seats talking in... if they have a question we ask them to write it down on a piece of paper that we provide. We take like questions and combine them. Then the question is presented, through the moderator, directly verbatim to the panelists...

Jericho - Smart. That's smart.

Brantley - And then the panelists are given the opportunity to respond. If audience members have follow-up questions we are a pretty fluid team we move pretty quickly and as fast as they can get them on paper we can get them up to the panelists making sure that everything is kosher. What we've done is provided and created a forum so that members of the community can ask just about anything they want to ask. They don't have to have their name or face attached to it... maybe they are afraid to ask. But at the same time we've set up a system that protects the panelists from unwanted unwarranted abuse. And we've set up a system that panelists feel comfortable enough to come to because  they know they are in good hands. They know they are going to be taken care of. And they know we are going to be addressing issues and not having a rabble rousing session that nobody really wants to participate in.

Jericho - And that makes me feel a lot more comfortable as I'm thinking what am I going to do with my Monday night. I've heard of this Roundtable but is it going to be a lot of screaming and hollering or is it actually going to be something productive. And the way that you guys have gone about this... I'm feeling really enthusiastic about the conversation on Monday night. I think it's going to be a fabulous event. I think anybody in this area, if they live inside Springfield or not, this will be a conference, a roundtable, an evening well worth attending. So this is coming up again... this Monday night?

Brantley - This Monday, November 12th, at 7pm. 

Jericho - Now typically Robert, and we're talking to Robert Brantley and we're talking about the Neighborhood Roundtable and the upcoming Neighborhood Roundtable Forum; best opportunity for residents to communicate with local law enforcement agencies... Typically how long do the meetings go. This one starts at seven... what time do you estimate it will break up around?

Brantley - Traditionally, by the book, we run from 7 o'clock and we end at 8 o'clock. I'm going to ask the panelists, before we start this roundtable, because there are so many questions that could be asked.

Jericho - Sure.

Brantley - There are so many... this is such a great opportunity. I am going to ask the panelists, before we start, that if people are still firing off good questions, intelligent questions, questions that need to be addressed... that once we hit the 8 o'clock mark if they don't mind pushing on to 8 or 8:30 or whatever and get some feedback form them. No matter what happens though, if we end at eight like we say we're going to end at 8... because say panelists have to be somewhere... have an event... Any questions that are asked that aren't answered by the panel at the Roundtable Forum that night... we do collect and we will submit those questions to the appropriate agencies or individuals, and we will ask for some feedback on that and will publish any answers that are there. So pretty much if you have a question show up, get it to us, we're going to try and get it covered. If we don't get it covered we will, how they say in the Marine Corps, 'I don't know sir, but I will find out.' 

Jericho - Fabulous and kudos to you and everybody. I would imagine that there are several people who have worked hard behind the scenes to put this together so kudos to everybody who has worked on this. I think you guys are going to have a fabulous event and it is my intention to be there. So it's coming up this Monday evening at 7 o'clock at the Fusion Center which is at 1321 North Campbell across the street from the, on the thing here it says across the street from the main church campus on Campbell Avenue. 

Brantley - Right. It's on the corner of Campbell and Calhoun. If you can find the corner of Campbell and Calhoun you can find the grey stone building with the orange front.

Jericho - Anything else people need to know about this before they attend? 

Brantley - I think the only thing that people should be thinking about before they attend is  what are the most pressing questions they have. Everybody has a million questions... I can think of a thousand of them and sometimes I kick myself in the butt for being the moderator on this because that ties my hands with questions that I have. So maybe I am banking on and counting on the citizens and residents of Springfield and Greene County to come in and have their thinking caps on. Talk about the things that need to be discussed. Let's get it out there let's open it up and let's go from there.

Jericho - We'll let's go from there... what happens after this Roundtable. What do you hope to see happen as a result of this meeting.

Brantley - Look. My main thing Vincent is engagement. Communication and engagement. Engaging the population with our leadership and talking back and forth. What I would hope to see from this is that people say, 'hey... you know what... this is a great event. This is a great Forum. I have an idea for a Roundtable. Maybe I would like to get involved to help set up a future roundtable on different issues.'

Jericho - So continuous engagement.. the people with whoever it is...

Brantley - Engagement and personal involvement. If one hears of things... if one knows of things... one is remiss if one does not participate in things. 

Jericho - Amen. Well done. Congratulations. We will continue... I promise on Monday we will continue to mention this because it is my hope that we will pack out the place. This is coming up this Monday night. An opportunity to meet with a wide array of Law Enforcement agencies. It's a Roundtable discussion on the nature of law enforcement... past, present, and future. Obviously we live in a new world and law enforcement is changing and this is a wonderful opportunity to engage in what I think is going to be a fabulous discussion. Again, Robert Brantley thank you very much for joining us this morning.

Brantley - Thank you Vincent... Be there or be square.

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