McLean County law enforcement agencies and citizens came together Thursday for a dialogue on police and their relationship and rapport with the community.
Bloomington's City of Refuge Church hosted and Not In Our Town: Bloomington-Normal co-sponsored Breaking Barriers, a discussion between locals and the police organized to address concerns in the wake of Ferguson and other nationwide incidents between the public and law officers. The meeting gave residents the chance to question the Bloomington and Normal Police Departments, as well as the Mclean County Sheriff and State's Attorney and the head of Illinois State University's police department.
Organizers hope the program opens the lines of communication between residents and local leaders.
"Education is key. If you know why they do things or if you disagree with why they do some things, you can head off some problems ahead of time," said John Elliott, Bloomington NAACP president and NIOT:BN steering committee member.
Elliott hopes people will continue to speak up and get more comfortable with polices and procedures that local police officers have to follow.
Bloomington Police Chief Brendan Heffner told WMBD-TV "some things will come up yes, but it's how you handle them. And when you have lines of communication open with your civic leaders, we can work things out and they have the faith in us that we will handle it."
Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner and Bloomington Chief Brendan Heffner with a young participant in Thursday's Breaking Barriers forum.
The chief echoed Mayor Tari Renner's recent assurance that Sgt. Ed Shumaker's 2013 statement that an African-American stabbing victim should "bleed to death" following an altercation at a local restaurant is "not what we're about." While the new chief said Shumaker's reprimand -- deemed by some in the community as inadequate -- reflected the remark being a "one-time incident" for the officer that Heffner deemed "out of character," he noted "we brought it out and we did address it."
"His comments were terrible," Heffner told residents at the forum. He said he could not address whether Shumaker himself would proffer a public apology for the remark.
Meanwhile, residents among other things inquired about the racial makeup of local police departments and the psychological screening procedures for prospective and new officers.
Heffner, who extended an invitation for new community recruits for his department ("We're going to recruit"), said three more Breaking Barriers-style meetings are planned for the near future. Twin Cities Stories will provide a more in-depth analysis of Thursday's discussion and conclusions later this week.
Here's a video snapshot of moments from the forum, from NIOT:BN's Darlene Miller. Twin Cities Stories will provide more in-depth analysis of forum discussions and conclusions this week.