ABSTRACT

The Blue & You Forum is a co-production of a community conversation initiative that focuses on improving police-community relations within Athens-Clarke County (A-CC), Georgia—a unified city-county jurisdiction located in northeast Georgia and home to the University of Georgia. To take advantage at the local level of the national conversation surrounding use of force issues during interactions between citizens and police, the Blue & You Police-Community Forum was individually conceived, but collaboratively designed and implemented. The Forum reflects co-production in the design and implementation of a core service as an initiative to enhance the effectiveness of complementary co-production in service implementation where residents are more likely to assist local law enforcement in public safety and public order efforts. Anticipated outcomes do include better communication, enhanced public trust and confidence and a more effective partnership in the co-production of public safety and public order.