By Connie Mabin
The Associated Press

WARREN, Ohio - Police officers in confrontation with a suspect. A police chief caught on tape joking around with an informant. Complaints about police strip searches.

Those are among the images that have been dominating television and newspaper reports over the past two months in this blue-collar city where similar issues last year led the U.S. Department of Justice to step in.

To some, the barrage of bad news has given the Warren Police Department a bad reputation that those in and outside of the community say will take time, effort and cooperation to change.

"Most definitely we're working on the perception image because in most people's minds perception is reality," said Mayor Henry J. Angelo.

Angelo wants to change the opinion of 17-year-old Thomas Mills, who said he'd respect the police more "if they reached out and helped the community more."

And then there's Crystal Krempaski, 21, who says, "Just seeing them beat on people on TV makes me think bad about them." She and friend Tabitha Carnahan, 24, say they'd like to see officers talk to residents regularly, not just when people are in trouble.

The mayor said they're working to improve the police image but persistent news coverage of what he calls a firestorm isn't helping.

"It's very difficult because it plays into the perception that that's the way the whole department is, and that's not true," Angelo said.

Police Chief John Mandopoulos has defended the officers accused of using excessive force in the videotaped June arrest. The FBI began an investigation after community leaders demanded an independent review. Police policies have been toughened because of the other incidents, and police also were investigating.

Warren, a racially diverse industrial city of 46,862 located 60 miles southeast of Cleveland, is not alone in its image battle.

Pittsburgh, under watch of the Justice Department, created the Citizens Review Board to independently investigate police complaints. In Boston, black ministers work with police to ease racial tension and prevent youth crime.

Robert R. Friedmann, a Georgia State University professor of criminal justice, said his 20 years of study shows partnerships with civic leaders, social service agencies, businesses, schools, churches and others work best for cities like Warren.

Rolling Meadows, Ill., near Chicago, is like Warren in terms of population and demographics. After years of tension with Hispanic residents, the police department this year won a national award for community policing.

Chief Steve Williams said it took nearly 10 years and help from those Friedmann mentioned to turn around its relationship with the neighborhood. Officers no longer get called to major crimes such as shootings, he said.

Williams said the key was putting an officer in a community center that houses police-run education and job training programs and a health clinic and day care.

"Our job is not to be an army of occupation in a neighborhood," Williams said. "And if you're just doing law enforcement work, that's what you're doing."

De Lacy Davis, an East Orange, N.J., officer and consultant who is president of Black Cops Against Police Brutality, said Warren could take a lesson from Rolling Meadows.

"The community has said we reject this police department in culture. Whether it's reality or perception, it is not in the best interest of the community," Davis said.

Angelo says Warren has made strides in smoothing racial tensions, but acknowledges that it must do better with its image. "We made mistakes and we're trying to fix those mistakes," he said.

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On the Net

City of Warren: http://www.warren.org/

Dr. Friedmann: http://www.cjgsu.net/initiatives/friedmann/

Rolling Meadows Police: http://www.ci.rolling-meadows.il.us/rmpd/