Hi, my name is Officer Jessica Rou. I'm a dialogue liaison officer or DLO. In addition to my primary duties as a patrol officer in downtown Portland, >> I'm Sergeant Ismmail. Uh I have been here for 24 years. Uh one of my roles is that of a dialogue liaison officer, otherwise known as a DLO. >> Our main goal is to build relationships with people, specifically people who haven't had a lot of interaction with police before. We wear this particular uniform so people can tell that we're not there strictly for enforcement. I'm here to communicate with people, point out safety concerns we have, hear what they might need. >> Basically, make the event safe for everybody, both those that are part of the event and those that are observing the event. >> I think one of the biggest misconceptions that people have about the white shirts, is that we're not police officers. We are full sworn police officers that have taken on an additional role. Our goal is communication, building relationships, but we're still police officers, and you can count on us to do police officer things for you. whether there's a crime being committed um or somebody needs medical assistance. >> Y'all are embarrassing as >> we get a lot of negativity towards us. But the idea is if we can work through that um and find a common ground, which has happened quite a bit. I've had people yell at me and curse at me and then within 10 minutes we find a common ground and we leave on a better note. Um, and I find that challenging, but but also rewarding. >> Being there for people and talking to everyone about something they care about. And that daily challenge is very rewarding. Seeing people where they're at, hearing what they need. I would say don't believe everything that you see or hear because online there's a lot of moments in time and it doesn't have the whole picture. Know that there's a lot of misinformation out there. Do your due diligence if you really want to know what's going on or ask people who are down here. We have moments of complete tranquility to utter chaos and everything in between. I've seen people from, and I'm going to use this terminology, the far left, the far right come in the middle and actually talk. But then I've also seen the other end of that where straight up fighting. Part of our role is we want to observe that before it happens. And if we see that kind of heating up, is to kind of go over there, maybe >> diffuse it, >> diffuse it a little bit, maybe deescalate it if we can without violating anybody's rights and making sure that they all have the the First Amendment right to protected speech without violating somebody else's rights. >> Hey guys. >> Hey, how's it going? >> Good, man. Thank you for being here. >> People who see us out there have to understand that we need to remain impartial. >> It's hard. I see people are look look absolutely heartbroken when I can't agree with a sentiment they clearly feel very strongly about. Our job is to make sure you feel just as safe talking to us today as you will a year from now for something completely different. You might see us today on the street at a protest, but in our different roles, you might see us a year from now at an armed robbery. And you need to know that we're going to be very impartial. We're there to help everybody, even somebody you don't get along with. You guys be safe. Thank you. See you.