BATON ROUGE - The Baton Rouge Police Department hosted a community meeting Tuesday evening at church off of South Tamari Drive, near an area of the city that was marred by murders in the first quarter of the year.

Meeting organizers said Tuesday's event was an attempt to strengthen the relationships between law enforcement and the community. Attendees were able to address the problems they are seeing in their neighborhoods.

"You want to get the opinion from the ones that live in the community. They can tell you what they're experiencing,
they can tell you what's going on," Jonathan Stagg, Vice President of the Sherwood Forest Community Association, said.

Metro Councilmember Cleve Dunn said he wants residents in his district to have an active role in these conversations. He believes the community plays a huge role in improving law enforcement.

"Once you realize and understand that we're all alike, we may look different, we may come from different backgrounds, but we all want the same thing. A safe community," Dunn said.

Police Chief T.J Morse said he encourages more non-emergency interactions between police and the community.

Another community meeting is scheduled at Broadmoor United Methodist Church on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m.