N

Manchester Police Chief Bill Sipe spoke to members of the Manchester Rotary Club about peace and conflict resolution during its regular meeting February 28 at The Mercantile in Manchester.

Sherry Douglas, club president, said Rotary International features a monthly focus, and Rotary leadership has been working to invite community leaders representing some of those focus areas to speak to the nonprofit organization about their areas of expertise.

“In February, the focus is on having peace in your community,” Douglas said during the meeting. “It is on how to handle conflict or how to keep peace whenever conflict arises and what better person to ask than our Chief of Police Bill Sipe.”

Sipe, who has served as Manchester police Chief since last October, said conflict has existed since the beginning of humanity, and people do not have to look far in today’s day and age to find conflict of some kind.

“What are some of the underlying causes of conflict, and more importantly, how do they help prevent or resolve conflict,” he said.

Sipe said personal bias and implicit bias can lead to conflict amongst individuals and communities.

“Aside from pride, jealously and covetousness, one of the innate characteristics we as humans intentionally or unintentionally learn throughout our lives are personal biases,” he said. “These biases help shape our thoughts and opinions on various things and various subjects.”

Sipe said these biases can include forming a judgement about someone based solely on the type of clothes they are wearing, what car they drive, their political views or religious beliefs and even someone’s physical appearance in general.

“We take all of this into account and formulate an opinion of this person, the strange thing about it is, that we do it without even thinking about it,” he said.

Sipe said some of the ways humans acquire these biases include beliefs learned from parents as well as “the way we experience life in general, the way certain people treat us, our religious convictions and the way we view morality…”

Sipe said personal and implicit bias can be so motivating, that it can lead to individuals deciding to break the law.

“By recognizing our own personal biases, we can hopefully think through the way we may feel about a particular person or situation and respond in a more positive and objective way without resorting to some kind of harmful activity,” Sipe said.

Recognizing those biases could help an individual have a different mindset about a situation and give them the ability to better resolve conflicts.

“Our ultimate goal here at the Manchester Police Department is to provide a safe and secure environment absent of fear where we can raise our families and work and play and enjoy our golden years,” Sipe said.