Deputies with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and officers with Cape Coral police participated in a conversation with the NAACP on Wednesday in Fort Myers. (CREDIT: WINK News) The NAACP of Lee County invited officers from the Cape Coral Police Department and the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office to talk about real-life encounters with Black neighbors. “The big word now is de-escalation, rather than escalating a situation and making it worse, is to try to tone it down, take the temperature down, take the volume down,” said Fredrick Morgan, co-chair of the NAACP. “Just as a Black man in America we see white folks get treated differently than Black folks and especially Black and brown folks.” While the conversation was designed to help minorities, law enforcement who participated say they got a lot from it too. “It wasn’t ever adversarial,” said Mike Casarella, chief deputy with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office. “It was collaborative, it was insightful, and it was a great opportunity.” The whole point was to have a discussion. “It’s not a you-against-them kind of thing,” Morgan said. “We are all in this together because we want our law enforcement to protect and serve.”