MeasuredSuccess
In the end Knowledge is Power.
2016–2019 workshops
You & Five-O, LLC was created to help community members navigate and survive police interactions. During early years of workshops between 2016-2019 we utilized a pre/post survey to summarize the effect our training on participants awareness/knowledge of their rights and level of comfort interacting with law enforcement. The participant ages ranged from middle school to adults. This analytic tool was created by M. Michaux Parker, Ph. D Criminologist. Indiana University East.
We analyzed 397 surveys during that time period. The results: Knowledge of rights: 19% increase; Level of comfort with police: 7.3% You and Five-O is not about getting people to like police, it’s to get them survive the interaction and understand how to exercise their rights. In the end Knowledge is Power.
397
Surveys analyzed
19%
Knowledge of rights increase
7.3%
Level of comfort with police
Law enforcement pilot
Law Enforcement You & Five-O Training (Pilot)
In 2022 at the request of the Kinston Police Interim Chief Jenee Spencer she wonder since YFO was teaching Kinston community members how to interact with police and telling YFO how they felt about policing that maybe that would be information that should be shared with her officers. The demographics for the City of Kinston in 2022, 68% African-American, 25% White. YFO had been working with KPD for close to three years in the community. The idea had been considered by YFO but not developed. YFO developed the training with input with KPD executive team. The training was done over five days for the entire police department. The training included sworn and non-sworn of Kinston Police Department in Kinston, N.C. The total participants were 64, 74% were sworn personnel. 75% male, 23% female, 71% white, 20% African-American. avg age 33, with avg years of service of 8.
The training was scored at 90% high impact and 90% high delivery effectiveness. The training has been updated (2026) based on the Top Five issues learned from listening to over 3K community members. The information gathered from the community on what they needed to know and understand about law enforcement is now being delivered back to law enforcement. We believe that is the true definition of community policing.
64
Total participants
74%
Sworn personnel
90%
High impact
90%
High delivery effectiveness
Kinston Police Department · Kinston, N.C. · 2022 · Updated 2026
“Strong relationships of mutual trust between the police and the community we serve are critical to maintaining public safety and effective policing. As law enforcement leaders, we rely on the cooperation of community members to provide information about crime in our neighborhoods as well as rely on assistance from the community to devise solutions to crime and disorder issues. Similarly community members’ willingness to trust the police depends on whether they believe that police actions reflect community values and incorporate the principles of procedural justice and legitimacy. The Kinston Police Department understands the importance of establishing trust with our community members and recognizes the necessity to build relationships to identify solutions to issues within our community. We’re not an agency that will hide when issues arise; we’d rather get out in front and work in collaboration with our community members to solve problems. We are extremely excited to team up with Polis Solutions and You & Five-O to offer this innovative community trust building training to our citizens so we can continue to build our strong connections within our community. This is an excellent opportunity for our officers and members of our community to get together and discuss ideas on how to improve our working relationship – I’m extremely excited!”
Returning community members
You & Five-O working with our returning community members. In May 2018 we did a small pilot survey with N.C. Department of Public Safety, Corrections Enterprise. It was prepared by Tonya B. Van Deinse, Phd. MSW. This is a very small sample of participants, only 20 participants. BJ was given the opportunity though small, thought it would be beneficial to simply get some feedback. There were 10 females and 10 males. 50% African American, 40% White, 10% Hispanic/Latino. Results on knowledge increased 21%. Results regarding attitudes about interactions with law enforcement increased by 45%. Again key limitation small sample, but statistically significan differences in the outcome variables.
21%
Knowledge increased
45%
Attitudes about interactions with law enforcement increased
May 2018 · N.C. Department of Public Safety, Corrections Enterprise · 20 participants
Community program
You & Five-O, LLC City of Kinston Report Findings
Disproportionate Minority Contact Grant Phase 1 · October 2018 – October 2019
This information is the result of pre/post surveys given to participants in the You & Five-O presentations/workshops. This is a summary of the results of the surveys given during this first phase of the grant for the City of Kinston. Detailed analysis and the survey instrument is available upon request. Dr. M. Michaux Parker of Indiana East University is the creator of the survey instrument and analyzes the results.
215
Participants
81.8%
Were 18 years old or younger
+22.15%
Increase in awareness of rights
+4%
Increase in level of comfort with law enforcement
Before the program
- On a scale of 1 to 10, the participants rated their awareness of personal rights as 6.322.
- On a scale of 1 to 10, the participants rated their average level of comfort during police interactions as 5.95.
- On a scale of 1 to 10, the participants rated their defiance as 4.05.
What the survey showed
- As participants’ awareness of their rights increased, their comfort with the law increased.
- As individual defiance increased, comfort with law enforcement decreased.
- As the participants’ education increase, their level of comfort during interactions with police officers increased.
*This is our most recent analysis. Other data using the same survey instrument are available*
“The You & Five-O program is a necessary educational component that candidly creates a logical roadmap for people to safely interact with law enforcement. The Durham Police Department is a community-oriented policing agency that strives to build mutual trust, respect and cooperation with our residents. Our department found great value in our partnership with You & Five-O, and we support the principles and objectives of the program.”
Evaluations
Corrections Enterprise Report
Dr. Tonya Van Deinse prepared this brief report to summarize the results of the You & Five O pilot test. She is a researcher & faculty member at UNC Chapel Hill and works on a number of research & evaluation projects related to the criminal justice system however, her work on this evaluation was independent of her role at the university.
View report (PDF)
Orange County Correctional Facility Pre-Release Program
View report (PDF)
Durham Police Dept. Memo & Data Analysis
View report (PDF)
YFO Annual Training at NC A&T State University
View report (PDF)
YFO-Kinston Pilot Police Training Report
The evaluation instrument was created and analyzed by YFO team member Dr. M. Michaux Parker, Ph.D Criminologist of Indiana University East.
View report (PDF)
The Top Five
The Top Five issues from listening to community members
You & Five-O, LLC started in 2015 the core reason was and still is to save lives. That all persons get home after police interactions to include law enforcement. We are all Huemans and we all want to go HOME. In 2022 BJ was preparing for a presentation in front of an SBI Task Force about the work she’d been doing for the last seven years. This is not empirical data, this is information gathered from listening by 2022 over 3k persons, now it’s a little over 4k. BJ started this business to tell community what she believed they needed to hear to survive police interactions. The community told her what they needed to hear and learn. She listens to thousands, and there weren’t thousands of issues, just five recurring issues, FIVE. They are from #5 to #1: lack of understanding what police are allowed to do or do; controlling their emotions when the officers’ tone or unprofessionalism is exhibited; fear of ecercising their constitutional rights, “if I say “no to the search, they will get mad” was heard often; not using their voice to file complaints due to no trust in the system; and #1 was R.E.S.P.E.C.T., just being treated like a hueman, or given a professional response to the question of “why?”. YFO is not seeking anyone to always agree, but we do strive to help the community understand the why.
View the archives of past presentations & events