Charles Woody never could have imagined he’d be standing where he is today. Speaking to a new class of Binghamton police officers, he reflected on his past 20 years in law enforcement.
“You’ve got to just readjust that thinking and understand that every individual is different, and just because some people might dress the same or talk the same out there, they’re not the same individually,” said Woody, the Binghamton police community outreach and recruiting director.
For Woody, one class is especially important. New officers are going through diversity training, and it comes at an important time.
“For you, it’s easy to go out there and formulate an opinion when you’re thrown into situations day after day, after day, after day, and some of these biases that you might have had or learned or you hear about start to take over,” said Woody.
Woody worked as an officer and investigator for 20 years, before retiring and leaving the area. But that retirement didn’t last long. He was brought back in June as the city’s first director of community outreach and recruitment, with the goal of hiring a more diverse class. He didn’t have to look hard to find those individuals.
“What it says to me is that there are people in the minority communities that want to do this job. Sometimes, I don’t know if they understand they are wanted and appreciated, and maybe they don’t follow through,” said Woody.
It’s Woody’s goal to help them follow through, and in just a few short months after he started, Binghamton hired its most diverse class ever, with three people of color, and one woman.
“They may want to do this job, but the pressures in the community sometimes are telling them and their friends are telling them this isn’t something that you should do. It’s not looked upon in a positive light, and sometimes it just takes people to get a little older to start separating themselves,” said Woody.
