Trust in the police is critical to keeping a community and its officers safe. That trust has been shaken in many parts of our country, sparking countless protests and conversations focused on improving that trust.

In San Jose, we are implementing a plan we hope can make trust the base of interactions between police and our community.

Police officers are asked to make split-second decisions that sometimes have profound consequences. When they do, their actions must and should be independently reviewed to determine that the action was appropriate and justified. Unfortunately, those decisions and consequences also can generate split-second judgments as to what actually happened.

This drives division. An informed and honest conversation about policing issues must continue if we are to avoid unfounded rumors and speculation.

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These conversations are more difficult given the history of policing in some poor communities and communities of color throughout our nation.

In many families, stories are passed on from generation to generation about experiences in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. Television brought these generations the majesty and sadness of the funeral procession for President John F. Kennedy, the excitement of the race to the moon and images of Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor ordering the use of fire hoses and police dogs to attack peaceful black protesters in May of 1963.

We, as a society, cannot move toward improving anything unless we understand how we got where we are. At the same time, police officers should be judged by their individual actions and not the terrible actions of a few.

Our community has an opportunity to move beyond polarized positions, which frame community members and police as opposing forces, to a more productive vision of both groups as members of the same community where they can raise their families in safe, healthy and diverse neighborhoods.

To do this requires mutual trust that relies on building transparent systems for continuous improvement.

Fortunately, San Jose is not a community in crisis. That’s because we’ve been proactive. But there is much more we can do. Today, with the support of the San Francisco 49ers and Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the San Jose Police Department is committing to our largest endeavor yet.

We will engage directly with our community in new ways, including at large-scale public meetings. We will use innovative tools that will help provide a barometer for times when things are heating up so that we can quickly reach out to one another and immediately address the concerns.

Three principles of our work will help improve community trust and understanding:

1. Work collectively with residents, police officers and communities to engage in dialogue based on facts and, most importantly, to listen;

2. Use data to drive action and put in practice what we learn; and

3. Work together to build a safer, stronger and more resilient San Jose.

To this end, San Jose is the first large police department in the country to make “use of force” data public in an online dashboard. This data on police use of force has yielded positive findings, demonstrating that we do not have a crisis while providing us benchmarks for improvement. (Sjpd.org)

But we need to do more.

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Liccardo: Rebuilding San Jose’s police department is going great, but we’re not done yet SJPD is rebuilding from an unprecedented police staffing shortage and will regrow differently, leading the nation again in cutting-edge policing, community trust and safe neighborhoods.

To accomplish this, we must recognize our own life experiences and be open to listening and working with each other, especially those with different perspectives.

Soon we will be scheduling public meetings. Join us! For more information, follow us on Facebook.com/SanJosePD and Twitter @SanJosePD or go to www.SJPD.org.

Eddie Garcia is San Jose chief of police. Emmett D. Carson is president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Sgt. Paul Kelly is president of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association.