empathy between law enforcement and the community. the younger generation of police needs to be involved to the extent that the older generation of police is involved. that s the goal because the goal is to try to get the officers to let down their window. you have to understand if he has those twists he s going to have to face what comes at him. don t judge me by how i look, judge me by my character. that s it. reporter: as part of today s lesson detective dennis explains what to do and not to when stopped by police. let your hands be visible. so we can see them. you can t get to no weapon if i can see your hands. reporter: the program happens the third wednesday of every month. the barber shop is in a black community a sanctuary that anything and any type of dialogue goes. we re just trying to piggyback off of that and have these same open discussions. dealing with people, relationships, it s about communication. do you know what i m saying? straight up. reporter:
reporter: in south atlanta the cleveland avenue barber shop really packs them in. i m 25. you re still young. reporter: but when atlanta police department detective dennis shows up it s no longer about a shave and a haircut. do i look like i have a gun on. i have a gun on. do i know had i m? no further questions. reporter: this is clippers and cops, a program started by detective dennis one year ago in atlanta. i reached out to other people that i know possibly with former felons, former gang members, different things like that and a we basically came up with the concept to let s talk. we re trying to get them a gun. reporter: this 15 year detective with the gang unit partnered with other local police officers in an effort to mend gaps between citizens and police. through open conversation and interaction. they cover a wide variety of topics from politics to sports, to current events, but his main objective is to create trust and
experience when stopped by police. you say you started this when? last year. last year. last march. was this after we saw kids get gunned down? that s why i started it. but what i m saying was how long did it take? it was last year. i m going to cut you off here. wait. the whole goal of this is trying to do something different. i want to change policing as we know it. detective dennis hopes to take his community policing tactic of clippers and cops nationwide. i want to take this model not only from atlanta but across the country and basically implement it for all police departments. nick valencia cnn atlanta. good for them and good luck to them. we are following a lot of breaking news so let s get to it. announcer: this is cnn breaking news. good morning and welcome to your new day, it s friday, may 31st, 8:00 in the east and we do begin with breaking news. the attorney general william