While tensions continue to simmer across the country between police forces and community members, the Boston Police Department’s commitment to a community policing model remains a solid foundation for neighborhoods, Commissioner William Evans said on Monday, adding, “but every day, we strive to get better.”

The commissioner spoke on an evening panel with Rev. Mark V. Scott, associate pastor with the Azusa Christian Community and member of the City of Boston’s Streetworker Team, and the Rev. Jeffrey L. Brown, founder of RECAP (Rebuilding Every Community Around Peace).

Moderated by Byron Barnett, reporter at WHDH and host of Urban Update, the “Towards a Safer Community” panel was part of the Kennedy Library Forum Series hosted by the JFK Library and Museum on Columbia Point.

“I would characterize the relationship as strong,” Rev. Scott said. “I would also characterize it as tremendously improved. The improvement is something that has been worked on over a period of time, and worked at hard.”

The panelists, steeped as they are in the day-to-day impacts of community violence, noted that the policing system in Boston is not perfect but is making progress. A force that is roughly 30 percent non-white in a city that is 54 percent non-white does not fully reflect the demographics of a majority-minority city, though the reinstated cadet program is providing a fresh pool of recruits from the neighborhoods they hope to serve.

And although the homicide rates are declining, five murders have occurred so far in 2017, which Evans said was “five too many.”

The commissioner and the reverends dealt sensitively and frankly with politically charged questions about the meaning of Black Lives Matter, the purpose of body cameras, and the difficulty of maintaining strong relationships with communities that historically mistrust police.

Peace walks, youth and police dialogues, and other efforts intended to divert youths from the criminal justice system are core efforts for the force, Evans said. If there are fewer arrests in trade for sending youths to the most appropriate social services, so much the better, he said.

Another mark in the police department’s favor, said Rev. Brown, is its practice of showing community leaders footage of police-involved shootings after violence breaks out. He was one of the people called in to examine footage of the fatal shooting of the 40-year-old felon Angelo West, who, in March 2015 ,opened fire and shot Boston Police Officer John Moynihan in the face during a drug unit traffic stop.

“I think it was unprecedented,” Brown said, “for the commissioner to be open in calling community leaders… and when I go to other communities, across the country and let them know that this is part of what is being developed with the Boston Police Department, they look at me as though I have eight heads, because they just think it’s so crazy to have the community come in and look at some of this evidence with this technology.”

Although initially cautious regarding implementing body cameras, Evans ultimately backed the current 100-officer pilot program. “We’re using it in a lot of positive ways,” he said. The one request to view footage was from an insurance agency, he said, “so the good thing is, we haven’t really had any demand by anybody suspecting our officers of any misbehavior, where we got into a situation where we would look at it and try to justify the officer’s behavior.”

The body cameras have captured thousands of hours of footage and Evans said he has heard almost no objection to the program from officers assigned to wear them. Police and the city leadership are in talks about extending the pilot.

The full video of the event is available at the Kennedy Library’s online archives. The next forum, on March 6, will be a discussion with Ryan Tubridy and PJ Lynch on JFK’s visit to Ireland. It will be moderated by Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe.