HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo 10.15.20_Summary of Community Policing Public Input and Attachments
Date: October 15, 2020
To: City Council
From : Geoff Fruin, City Manager
Re: Community Policing Public Input Summary
Introduction
On Tuesday, June 16, 2020, City Council adopted Resolution No. 20-159, which outlined
seventeen actions to respond to the Black Lives Matter Movement and address systemic
racism. Updates on the City Council’s progress can be viewed at www.icgov.org/blm. Item
number one of this resolution commits to the development of a preliminary plan to
restructure the Iowa City Police Department (ICPD) towards community policing, by
December 15, 2020. Attached is a summary of the City Council led public input phase which
initiated the plan development.
Background
Throughout September and October, the City Council held six listening posts on community
policing at various locations. Each listening post emphasized a specific area of focus,
although public comment was welcomed on any issue related to community policing. Two or
three Councilors attended each event and local community service providers and ICPD staff
were invited to provide perspective and respond to questions from the community. Staff
from the City Manager’s Office also attended all sessions to listen and document the input
received.
Listening Post Councilors in
Attendance Presenting Service Providers* ICPD staff in
Attendance
Focus: Mental health, crisis intervention, addiction
Wednesday, Sept. 16 - 5:30 p.m. at Mercer Park
Teague, Bergus,
Weiner
CommUnity Crisis Services,
Prelude Behavioral Services
Ofc. Fowler
Sgt. McKnight
Focus: Special needs population
Tuesday, Sept. 22 - 5:30 p.m. via Zoom (virtual)
Mims, Thomas,
Weiner
The Village Community, Access 2
Independence
Ofc. Hayes
Daisy Torres
Focus: University of Iowa students
Saturday, Sept. 26 – 10 a.m. at Hubbard Park
Teague, Taylor,
Weiner
University of Iowa Student
Government (USG)
Interim Chief
Brotherton
Focus: Abuse and victim services
Tuesday, Sept. 29 – 5:30 p.m. at Wetherby Park
Teague, Bergus Domestic Violence Intervention
Program, Johnson County
Attorney’s Office, Nisaa African
Family Services, Monsoon Asians
& Pacific Islanders in Solidarity
Sgt. Stevens
Ofc. Clarahan
Ofc. Nieland
Focus: People experiencing homelessness
Monday, Oct. 5 – 5:30 p.m. at Chauncey-Swan Park
Mims, Thomas,
Taylor
Shelter House, Guidelink Access
Center
Ofc. Schwindt
Sgt. McKnight
Ofc. Fowler
Focus: Youth engagement
Thursday, Oct. 8 – 5:30 p.m. at Dream City
Teague, Bergus United Action for Youth, Dream
City
Sgt. Bailey
Daisy Torres
*Note: In addition to the presenting service providers, other local service providers attended various
meetings and answered questions and shared thoughts and perspective.
October 15, 2020
Page 2
City staff promoted the listening posts using a variety of mediums to inform the public of
each event’s date, time, and location. Listening posts details were promoted via:
• Seven separate news releases and news articles (approximately 8,712 reads in
total). Many of these news releases or event details were also printed or broadcast
by local news media.
• Facebook Events for each listening post (13,606 people reached in total, and 218
responded as going or interested).
• 10 unique Facebook posts (9,208 people reached in total).
• 10 unique Tweets (16,457 impressions total).
• Two Instagram Stories on the days before the listening posts which were targeted
towards younger audiences (UI students and youth engagement).
• Four separate Iowa City Update videos (published on YouTube, Nextdoor,
Facebook, and Twitter).
• The City’s Black Lives Matter webpage: www.icgov.org/blm (average of 264 page
views per week).
• Announcements of upcoming listening posts during City Council meetings and at the
end of each listening post for the next scheduled event.
Listening Post Promotion Schedule
Facebook Twitter News Release
Listening Post #1 (Sept. 16) Sept. 10, 15, 16 Sept. 10, 15 Sept. 10
Listening Post #2 (Sept. 22) Sept. 17, 22 Sept. 17, 22 Sept. 16, 22
Listening Post #3 (Sept. 26) Sept. 24, 25 Sept. 24 Sept. 23
Listening Post #4 (Sept. 29) Sept. 26, 27 Sept. 26, 27 Sept. 24
Listening Post #5 (Oct. 5) Oct. 1, 3 Oct. 3, 5 Sept. 28
Listening Post #6 (Oct. 8) Oct. 5, 6 Oct. 6 Sept. 30
People reached: 9,208 16,457 8,712
In addition to the listening posts, comments were also collected via an online public input
form on the City’s Black Lives Matter webpage. This form was made available on August
25, 2020 and closed on October 15. The online form was promoted in each of the seven
news releases issued for the listening posts, announced as option by Councilors at the
events and during City Council meetings, and included as a link in the Facebook Events.
General Summary
In total, there was an attendance of approximately 138 between the six listening posts. While this is a very small fraction of our population, the numbers are more or less in line with our expectations based on past outreach events and considering the challenges of the pandemic. An additional 57 submissions were received through the online public input form. In each listening post it was evident that the Iowa City Police Department has a strong foundation of community partnerships with many local social service agencies. These agencies, along with the Police Department and the attending members of the public all expressed a clear desire and need to expand and invest even more in these relationships in order to best serve those in need and the community in general. As the City now begins the work of drafting preliminary plan toward more community policing, bolstering these already strong partnerships should be a cornerstone of the plan.
October 15, 2020
Page 3
Other key takeaways from the public input received is a desire to continue to consider how critical preventative and follow-up care services are to limiting calls for assistance from those in crisis. Examples such as CommUnity’s 24/7/365 Mobile Crisis Outreach Program team, Shelter House’s Cross Park Place and the soon to open GuideLink Center were referenced by service providers as being key contributors that have or will ensure that the need for police involvement will be minimized for individuals in crisis. The City has been a partner in all of these projects and continues to be a key player that advances these and other critical wrap-around services. Finally, there was consistent support expressed for making certain that people experiencing a crisis receive care from the professionals who are best-suited to provide a safe initial contact and long-term care and support for their individual situation. This would include an effort to divert calls from law enforcement officers whenever possible through promotion and enhanced utilization of existing civilian mobile crisis teams or civilian staff employed by the City. Secondly, when a law enforcement presence is required for safety reasons, an analysis is needed on how best to maximize the opportunity for crisis professionals to intervene safely and effectively in the presence of law enforcement. Lastly, for calls in which the police are the only suitable responders, the City must continue to make certain that those responding receive frequent training and support to deescalate the situation and safely connect the individual in crisis with professionals that can step in and explore the most suitable follow-up care for each unique situation. The conversation at each listening post is summarized in the following pages. In some instances, we have added some data that may help the City Council and the public understand the state of current operations. A more detailed account of the listening posts and verbatim online public input submissions are also attached.
October 15, 2020
Page 4
7,527
8,511
8,365
8,675
8,788
304
291
242
197
210
-500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 6,500 7,000 7,500 8,000 8,500 9,000
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Crisis/Behavioral Health Calls by Disposition
Non-Criminal Resolution Arrest Made
(97.7%)
(97.2%)
(96.1%)
(2.3%)
(2.2%)
(3.3%)
(3.9%)
Listening Post #1 Summary Sept. 16, 2020 | Mercer Park
Area of focus: Crisis intervention, mental health, and addiction
Presenting Service Providers: CommUnity Crisis Services, Prelude Behavioral Services
Estimated Number of Public Attendees: 40
Discussion Summary
Service Providers in attendance (presenting providers and others):
•Mental health calls for service are complicated by other needs, such as housing,
transportation, and food security as well as social obstacles, such as stigma.
•Jail and hospital diversion efforts have proven to be successful & mental health referrals by
police increased after law enforcement’s Crisis Intervention Training initiative.
•Demand always outpaces supply of social service providers, so incident response times
from these agencies are often slower than the pace police can respond.
•Guidelink Access Center will be a valuable new resource for those experiencing crises.
Members of public in attendance:
•Multiple mentions of response models which emphasize mental health and crisis
intervention professionals in responding to these types of calls.
•Several supportive of increased funding for social service agencies and more strategic and
innovative partnerships to limit when police need to be involved.
•Need to address implicit bias and systemic racism.
Police officers in attendance:
•Excited about prospect of co-response program and supportive of increased crisis
intervention training for officers.
•Prefer to have public health professionals involved and view officer role as de-escalating the
situation in order to get individuals to providers and health professionals.
•Need a solution/provider for involuntary patients, so officers do not have to be involved.
Supplemental Information [The following data may be a helpful supplement to the listening post discussion.]
Based on calls for service between 2015 and 2019, the ICPD responds to an average of 8,622
calls for service each year that could be considered “crisis or behavioral health” calls.
These types of calls account for approximately 11.97% of all calls between 2015 and 2019. The
split by type of these calls includes: 36.1% suspicious activity, 26.5% public assistance, 13.4%
welfare check, 7.5% intoxicated pedestrian, 4.2% vagrant/transient, 3.2% suicide, 2.9% mental
impairment, 4.5% medical, and 1.8% unknown. Most of these calls result in a non-criminal
resolution, such as a referral to a service provider or a verbal warning.
(97.8%)
(96.7%)
(2.8%)
October 15, 2020
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Listening Post #2 Summary Sept. 22, 2020 | Virtual
Area of focus: Special Needs Population
Presenting Service Providers: The Village Community, Access 2 Independence
Estimated Number of Public Attendees: 16
Discussion Summary
Service Providers in attendance (presenting providers and others):
• Have partnered successfully with ICPD to proactively expose clients to positive police
interactions and continuing to foster these existing relationships is critical.
• Diversity of disabilities prohibits a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, but if police can enter a
situation knowing a person has a disability and what their related
behaviors/communication styles are, that response is better.
• Currently engaged with ICPD to launch a pilot, voluntary disability identification program.
• Familiar people are important to an individual with special needs experiencing a crisis.
Members of public in attendance:
• Inquiry about the possibility of a CIT unit separate from police that focuses on de-
escalation and the relevant trainings provided to ICPD.
• Questions about the most important traits of a successful response to an individual with
special needs and how existing services function (i.e. Project Lifesaver).
• Interest in how police restructuring plan will help with other institutional punitive culture.
Police officers in attendance:
• Extensive outreach with special needs population (i.e. Coffee with a Cop) to help these
individuals become comfortable with the police and the idea of asking them for help.
• Project Lifesaver and LOST Program are two existing resources for this population.
• Training never stops: “Every day is a training day, with every call.”
• If officers can be informed of an individual’s disability and related behaviors, they can
provide more efficient and better service when responding to the call.
Supplemental Information [The following may be helpful in addition to listening post discussion summary]
• Project Lifesaver: An international program that the ICPD participates in which allows
caregivers to enroll individuals at risk of wandering, so police can quickly locate the
individual if this occurs. [www.projectlifesaver.org]
• Loved Ones Safe Together (LOST) Program: Existing, free program that is a joint-
initiative of the ICPD and area caregivers to help locate enrolled individuals who have
been separated from their families or caregivers. [www.icgov.org/LOSTprogram]
• Project Blue Able: Pilot project in the planning phase which would provide drivers with
disabilities a way to voluntarily identify their disability and communication tips with an
officer during a traffic stop.
October 15, 2020
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Listening Post #3 Summary Sept. 26, 2020 | Hubbard Park
Area of focus: University of Iowa Students
Presenting Service Providers: University of Iowa Student Government
Estimated Number of Public Attendees: 10
Discussion Summary
Service Providers in attendance (presenting providers and others):
• More resources are always needed for stability and to expand services, especially after-
care services (mental health care, drug court, mental health court, etc.) – the call for
service is the beginning, not the end.
• There are existing UI staff dedicated to substance abuse and alcohol safety, but more
support services from professionals, and training within the community on how to
respond/intervene would be beneficial.
• Mobile Crisis Unit cannot respond to situations involving involuntary committals.
Members of public in attendance:
• Questions about the roles USG and UIPD play in responding to various public/student
safety issues.
• Interest in response models which involve trained mental health professionals.
• Inquiry into current mental health calls received by police – including types of calls
received and ICPD’s existing workload.
• Focus on systemic issues and address existing, non-police related gaps in services
such as housing and food insecurity.
ICPD in attendance:
• Existing partnership with Mobile Crisis Unit has yielded good results, and a need to
focus on aftercare services and an expansion of resources remains.
• Officers enjoying helping others and want everyone to feel safe asking the police for
help.
October 15, 2020
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Listening Post #4 Summary Sept. 29, 2020 | Wetherby Park
Area of focus: Abuse and victim services
Presenting Service Providers: Domestic Violence Intervention Program, Nisaa African
Family Services, Monsoon Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity, Johnson County’s
Attorney Office
Estimated Number of Public Attendees: 40
Discussion Summary
Service Providers in attendance (presenting providers and others):
• Existing partnerships have been beneficial and continue to improve, but opportunities
remain to strengthen these even more and increase use of referrals.
• Need to further consider how personal characteristics, demographics, language, and
cultural experiences impact an individual’s trust in systems & ability to reach out for help.
• Important to confront biases, challenge systems, and have tough conversations.
Members of public in attendance:
• Inquiries about ICPD’s use of social workers and increasing this type of assistance.
• Discussion of how to support victims dealing with trauma or who are uncomfortable
reporting abuse.
Police officers in attendance:
• Important to remain culturally humble and work to understand biases.
• Partnerships are critical and valued by ICPD and hope to expand and strengthen these.
• City has had domestic violence position since 1997 + dedicated sexual assault detective
– ongoing efforts include better partnerships, a social work intern program through UI,
and victim services position, but continual improvement is so important.
• Policing is more than just law enforcement.
Supplemental Information [The following may be helpful in addition to listening post discussion summary]
579 602 624 713 651
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Number of Domestic
Violence Calls for
Service
286 264
49 15 5 3
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
2014 -2018 Average Race/Ethnicity
of Domestic Violence Victims
October 15, 2020
Page 8
Listening Post #5 Summary Oct. 5, 2020 | Chauncey-Swan Park
Area of focus: People experiencing homelessness
Presenting Service Providers: Shelter House, Guidelink Access Center
Estimated Number of Public Attendees: 7
Discussion Summary
Service Providers in attendance (presenting providers and others):
• Service providers do more than just provide shelter: wraparound services such as mental health care,
rehousing/stabilizing housing, meals, and job training and placement are all ongoing and have
continued need for expansion.
• The ICPD position created to focus on community policing in the downtown district helped improve
relations with those experiencing homelessness and helped provide the data and perspective needed
to move forward Cross Park Place and Guidelink.
• Significant (and unique) collaboration occurs in Johnson County between law enforcement and
service providers to divert individuals from jail and hospitals.
• Situations in which agencies may ask for police assistance include involuntary committals, violent
situations, and for de-escalation until care providers can respond.
Members of public in attendance:
• Discussion of police officer’s role in responding to these crises and determining what type of
care/referral the individual needs. How would alternative response models work?
• Questions about how existing resources operate (Cross Park Place, Mobile Crisis Unit, Shelter
House, etc.) and how the Guidelink Access Center will work as a new resource.
Police officers in attendance:
• Downtown liaison position was critical to improving trust with these individuals, and data shows the
success of Cross Park Place in providing an alternative to jail or the ER.
• Meeting with other cities who have co-response models to learn more; police prefer mental health
professionals respond to mental health calls, but often these providers do not want their staff to go
without police when safety concerns are present.
Supplemental Information [The following may be helpful in addition to listening post discussion summary]
The number of nights spent in jail was tracked for residents who moved into Cross Park Place for the 3
years before Cross Park Place opened (indicated by dotted line), and in the nine months after it opened.
Cross Park Place opens
Nights Spent in Jail for Individuals Who Moved into Cross Park Place: Before and After Cross Park
Place Opened
October 15, 2020
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Listening Post #6 Summary Oct. 8, 2020 | Dream City
Area of focus: Youth
Presenting Service Providers: Dream City, United Action for Youth
Estimated Number of Public Attendees: 25
Discussion Summary
Service Providers in attendance (presenting providers and others):
• UAY has found success in partnerships with ICPD such as the shoplifting diversion program;
Dream City is interested in exploring ways to partner that give both youth and police an
opportunity to reconstruct their perspectives of one another.
• Community input is essential for service providers to understand what resources, support,
and programs the public want and need.
• Increased education for the community is critical – black voices have been asked to come to
the table for years, but fear of people of color persists. Cops are part of the conversation,
but so are the people who are calling the police on persons of color.
Members of public in attendance:
• Discussion of Iowa City Community School District’s role in addressing systemic racism.
• Expression of the need for white people to educate themselves and confront implicit biases
– Why are white people calling the police on persons of color?
• Discussion of community-driven solutions, such as the active South District Neighborhood
Association and informal mediation options, healthcare and crisis worker response models.
Police officers in attendance:
• Calls about “suspicious” persons of color are a real phenomenon. Officers respond to all
calls for service, but if supervisors hear this type of call, they will often the direct the officer
to just drive by and assess if there is a threat and not make contact.
• Gaps: Only supervisors can give this direction, and they aren’t able to hear every call that
comes in. Impossible to know the perspective or motivation of the caller, therefore it can be
difficult to make a judgement call about how to respond.
Councilors in attendance:
• This is a unique opportunity Councilors are committed to – not just ‘checking a box.’
• Public input is first step and there is a lot of work left to do, mistakes might be made and
coming back to the table again and again is likely. Public participation is key.
Supplemental Information [The following may be helpful in addition to listening post discussion summary]
In 2019, the Southeast & Grant Wood neighborhoods had the highest numbers of juvenile calls for
police department service. W hile four of the five top neighborhoods showed a decline between 2018-
19 the Southeast neighborhood increased by almost 100%.
Top 5 Neighborhoods for Juvenile Related Calls for Service (2014 – 2019)
Neighborhood 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 % change from
2018 to 2019
Southeast 23 55 50 34 32 63 +96.88%
Grant Wood 32 75 79 87 71 60 -15.49%
Downtown 40 47 30 58 57 53 -7.02%
Wetherby 42 63 79 71 58 46 -20.69%
Lucas Farms 16 22 37 50 47 45 -4.26%
October 15, 2020
Page 10
Online Public Input Form Open: Aug. 25 – Oct. 15, 2020
Number of Submissions: 57 Form location: www.icgov.org/blm
Input Summary
Individuals had the opportunity to submit input through an online form, with no restrictions
on the number of submissions and the option to submit anonymously. The submissions
included a variety of opinions and ideas about policing in Iowa City. Ordered by an
approximation of frequency, the most common sentiments are summarized below:
• Support for a shift of responsibilities to social service providers and the
corresponding investment needed to support this shift.
• Support for maintenance of existing policing levels, citing crime and public safety.
• Support for various alternative response models, including those which involve
mental health and crisis professionals, peer response methods, and co-response
models which emphasize a mental health-first response and optional police support.
• Increase informal, non-enforcement outreach and engagement by police officers to
build relationships in neighborhoods and spend more time outside the vehicle.
• Avoid a dichotomized approach and address both the value of good policing and the
need to re-imagine new strategies to find a fit unique for our community.
• Address policy and procedure issues such as hiring practices, broadening training,
de-emphasizing weapons, and ensuring options other than use of force.
All online responses received are included at the conclusion of this memo.
October 15, 2020
Page 11
Next Steps
Upon review and consideration of the public input received, the City Manager’s Office is
prepared to develop a preliminary plan for City Council and public review. Prior to staff
starting work on the plan, the City Council should discuss and express to staff any specific
expectations for the plan.
The recommended next steps include:
• October – November 2020: Staff acts under City Council direction and in response to
public input to develop a preliminary plan.
• December 2020: Preliminary plan presented.
• Winter 2021: Additional public input solicited on the preliminary plan that is presented,
and any corresponding refinement of the plan.
• Spring 2021: Adoption of final plan.
LISTENING POST #1 NOTES: Sept. 16, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. at Mercer Park
LISTENING POST TOPIC: Crisis Intervention/Mental Health/Addiction
COUNCILORS IN ATTENDANCE:
☒ TEAGUE ☐ SALIH ☐ MIMS ☐ THOMAS ☐ TAYLOR ☒ BERGUS ☒ WEINER
CITY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Geoff Fruin, Officer Fowler, Sgt. McKnight
SERVICE PROVIDERS IN ATTENDANCE: CommUnity Crisis Services, Prelude Behavioral Services
ESTIMATED TOTAL NUMBER OF PUBLIC ATTENDEES: 40
(COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS DENOTED WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
CommUnity Staff* - Overview of Crisis Intervention Service,
including suicide hotline.
CommUnity Staff* - Explanation of Mobile Crisis Services.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Prelude Staff* - Overview of Prelude Behavioral Services. ☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
CommUnity Staff* - Description of crisis Intervention Services,
including emotional services support. ☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Public: For Mobile Crisis Unit – what is going well and what are
structural obstacles?
CommUnity Staff* - Obstacles include that mental health
resources are complicated by housing, transportation, food
insecurity, etc. and promoting service to the community is
difficult. What works well is that jail/hospital diversion rates are
good and follow-up services are strong & effective.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☒
Public: What are mental health services for people in the judicial
system?
Prelude Staff* - Description of jail alternatives program.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Public: What about prevention services?
Prelude/CommUnity Staff* - Overview of 40-hour Crisis
Intervention Training provided to law enforcement, which
includes role playing. After training – mental health referrals
went up
Prelude* - One structural obstacle is stigma from families and
friends. Provided example of CIT training being used with good
☐ ☒ ☐ ☒
(COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS DENOTED WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
outcome. Talked about Iowa Youth Survey and improved
outcomes due to prevention services.
Public: If officers are getting training, why are there still lack of
resources?
Prelude Staff* - Guidelink center will help by providing more
options to police and more services to the public.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Public: Can 911 dispatch other services rather than police?
CommUnity Staff* - Incident response rate can be slow because
counselors are often on call and not ready for action. Guidelink
Center will help and need to make sure that operation is
adequately funded. There always will be a mental health
counselor at that facility.
☒ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: Is the city looking at co-response model? Ex: CAHOOTS
program in Oregon. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Based on personal experience with both non-profit and
law enforcement, individuals are more willing to work through
issues with non-profit than law enforcement.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: Can we set a limit on how many officers can respond to a
call? More officers leads to escalation. What type of force
needs to be used?
☒ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Lack of funding is a problem. Funding needs to be
redirected from ICPD to non-profits. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: 40 hours of crisis training per year is not enough. ☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Has experience as counselor and educator (With Nisaa).
Make sure African immigrants are represented, Nisaa did not get
invited to tonight’s event. Need to work harder to improve
relationships with marginalized population.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Barriers are at the state and federal level. People need
to advocate at state and federal level. Locals are supportive.
Personal positive experience with local police during crises with
son.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: Help us understand legal implications of changing
dispatch system. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Funds should be reallocated from police to mental health ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Issue with public intoxication arrests -- discuss with law
enforcement and county attorney on how to reduce those
charges and use Guidelink Center instead.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Pursue innovative programs here even if numbers don’t
fully meet criteria to launch program. Be a leader. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
(COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS DENOTED WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Public: Can prelude and mobile crisis work together and not call
police? ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: New police chief should support co-responder plan and
bring forward restorative justice programs. City should
communicate with community on those issues.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Society’s problems shouldn’t all fall to police.
Sympathizes with the police, people need to call who is most
responsible for the issue.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Students have been drugged against will. Need better
options than jail or hospital. ☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: Upset with different response in judicial system and/or
police for people with different color skin. Need to solve implicit
bias.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Did police contact Prelude with crack epidemic or just
meth? Systemic racism exists. ☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Sgt. Mcknight*: Involved in implementation of the CIT program
for ICPD. Personally has 200+ hours in training. More training for
officers is always better. Supportive of a co-responder model
and the department is excited about the possibility of a co-
responder program. Law enforcement can be overwhelmed and
want to provide the public with better service.
Officer Fowler* - Officer’s job is not be a counselor. Our job is to
de-escalate and get people to providers. We don’t want to
criminalize mental health.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Fowler* – Involuntary patients have to involve PD. Can that
obstacle be removed and another service provider work with
involuntary patients?
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: What level of force is needed?
Fowler* - Always as little as necessary. ☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Officers don’t want to escalate, but that may be
unavoidable in cases. PD needs more training. ☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
CommUnity Staff* - Public can volunteer with Crisis Center. You
don’t need to be a professional to have an impact. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Prelude Staff* - Guidelink Center overview: includes sobering
unit, detox services, crisis stabilization/observation, and winter
shelter.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Councilor Weiner* - Offer to be French translator for African
immigrants. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
8:00 p.m. Meeting Concludes. One on one conversations with elected officials, service providers and police
representatives
LISTENING POST #2 NOTES: Sept. 22, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom
LISTENING POST TOPIC: Special Needs Population
COUNCILORS IN ATTENDANCE:
☐ TEAGUE ☐ SALIH ☒ MIMS ☒ THOMAS ☐ TAYLOR ☐ BERGUS ☒ WEINER
CITY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Daisy Torres, Officer Hayes, Geoff Fruin, Rachel Kilburg
SERVICE PROVIDERS IN ATTENDANCE: The Village Community, Access 2 Independence (A2I)
ESTIMATED TOTAL NUMBER OF PUBLIC ATTENDEES: 16
(COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS DENOTED WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
A2I Staff*: Overview of A2I functions, including independent
living training/transitions, advocacy, and resource center. ☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Prelude Staff* - Overview of Prelude Behavioral Services. ☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
The Village Community Staff*: Overview of The Village
Community services: disability advocacy and service organization
focused on community living and residential services. Also is the
parent of adult children with autism disorders, who had several
interactions with ICPD due to autism disorder behaviors.
o What has worked: Village Community interactions with
law enforcement have been positive, with many
successful proactive efforts: clients participate in Coffee
with a Cop, Officer Hayes has done extensive outreach,
and the ICPD is heavily involved with the Special
Olympics.
o Areas for improvement: Continuing to foster these
existing relationships as they have been is important. CIT
Training should be continued, and disability-specific
training opportunities are available if additional training
needs exist.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
A2I*: Working with Torres and Officer Neeld on Project Blue
Able, which would create a disability ID card to help individuals
self-identify with a disability and help officers understand better
how to interact with the individual. Received positive feedback
for this type of program from the community, but the pandemic
has halted the project for now.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
(COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS DENOTED WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Torres* (ICPD Public Outreach Assistant): Project Blue Able idea
sourced from the State of Connecticut’s Blue Envelope Program
and felt it would be a positive proactive action to implement a
similar project locally. Also important for the Police Department
to have frequent, friendly, and informal interactions with these
populations.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Officer Hayes*: Served as Community Relations Officer for 4
years and developed a good relationship with The Village
Community. Coffee with a Cop was very popular with clients --
they became comfortable approaching officers, trusting officers,
and understanding that an interaction with an officer in uniform
is not something to fear. All police officers continue to
participate in trainings which help officers identify triggers and
behaviors and how to respond to these crises. Also helps
families understand programs like PLI and LOST.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☒
Public: (Intern at Successful Living) What are efforts to respond
to mental health crises in the community?
Hayes*: All officers have gone through 40 hours of initial CIT
training and have ongoing trainings & talks about what a crisis
can look like and what appropriate behavior is during a crisis for
both the officer and the individual. Officers also conduct
proactive outreach and informal conversation and relationship-
building in the community, so that a crisis isn’t the first-time
people have contact with a uniformed officer.
o CIT training focuses on: listening to the individual in
crisis and caregivers, developing a longer-term plan to
help recurring individuals get to a stable place without
having police contact every day, and learning effective
referral strategies and resources.
Mims*: Guidelink center will be opening in 2021 and be a place
for adults experiencing a crisis to get the care, treatment, and
attention they need; diverting them from the ER and jail.
A2I Staff*: Police currently has a robust jail diversion program,
specifically for individuals experiencing mental health and
substance abuse issues, in which a social worker is assigned to
recurring individuals so they can get the health and treatment
they need
☐ ☐ ☒ ☒
The Village Community*: Experience with the CIT training that
police receive is that it is very robust and covers the needs of
this population.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
(COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS DENOTED WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Public: Is council considering a CIT unit/team separate from
police that focuses on de-escalation? (root problem: intersection
b/t mental health and race. Personal experience: son has mental
illness and sight of police during a crisis can invoke panic).
Mims*: Interested in the idea. There is an existing Mobile Crisis
Unit (through CommUnity) and wants to learn more about how
could that be expanded or better integrated with the ICPD.
Improving the categorizations of 911 calls at dispatch phase is
important, so the data can help us understand needs.
Weiner*: Also interested in the model of including a mental
health professional and non-uniformed officer on crisis calls for
service, to help de-escalate the situation.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Appreciative of councilors doing listening posts and
would like to see increased efforts to promote these events.
Weiner + Mims*: LP info being pushed out via news release,
social media posts, and online, but will evaluate if there are
other ways to do so also. Reminder to subscribe to City
notifications and follow on social media.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: What are most important things for a first responder or
standard citizen to know and/or understand when an individual
in special needs is in crisis?
The Village Community*: The individual in crisis will benefit
from having familiar people around during the experience, so
partnering and cooperating with first responders is important so
that the technical medical care + personal social knowledge
work in tandem.
A2I*: De-escalation tactics are critical to get the individual out of
crisis so they can feel safe and communicate more effectively.
Hayes*: If someone is with the individual in crisis, it is helpful if
they can notify dispatch of any triggers or behaviors, so
responders are prepared (i.e. Does individual dislike
lights/noises? Then, officers won’t use lights/siren. Does
individual not like to be touched? Then officers will keep a
comfortable distance. Do they like Kum & Go drinks? Officers
will respond with a Kum & Go drink). Also, Officers don’t just
respond with the intention of taking action – they will let the
individual do what they need to do to feel comfortable. So, If the
individual in crisis is in a situation where they are safe and can
move out of their crisis through physical exertion, the officers
will allow them the space to do that.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
(COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS DENOTED WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Public: In ICCSD climate surveys police presence in schools often
comes up. How will police be restructuring help with
institutional punitive culture?
Mims*: Feels the current social climate is conducive to re-
evaluating these systems and implementing real change. We
have an opportunity to lead there.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: How to sign up for Project Lifesaver?
Hayes*: Can sign up any time on the city website. After
completing an application, the app is processed and then
officers and applicant meet in-person about why participation in
the program is a good fit and to better understand why
individual is getting on the program and what true needs are.
Note: Project Lifesaver not catch-all, sometimes people do not
to like to wear the band/necklace so then officers look at other
alternatives to find a better fit for them. If interested, can find
more info online or stop at police department for assistance in
signing up.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Hayes*: Overview of how Project Lifesaver works. Every officer
is trained and does practice test twice a year.
The Village Community*: Not many PDs in Iowa that have the
PLI program, so appreciative that ICPD put in the effort to bring
the program here.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: What type of training is mandatory for police and are
trainings one-time or ongoing?
Hayes*: Training never stops (occurs daily in meetings, policy
updates, formal trainings). “Every day is a training day, with
every call.” Required monthly to do police legal science trainings,
additional training opportunities are optional or highly
encouraged. All officers trained in CIT (40 hours initially,
refreshers annually).
☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Other trainings in partnership with non-profits?
The Village Community*: ICPD has done work with Alzheimers
Assoc. Non-profits also table at CIT trainings to meet with and
talk to officers.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Torres*: All area law enforcement agencies attend MATS
annually (Multi-Agency Training Sessions), which is mandatory
two-day training with local organizations and service providers.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Thomas*: What is a traffic stop like for a person with special
needs?
A2I*: There is so much variety in the disability community, so
each stop looks different depending on an individual’s specific
disability barriers. This is why the idea of a disability ID card was
☐ ☒ ☐ ☒
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SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
floated. Example: individual with brain injury may express
behaviors of an intoxicated individual, although it is typical
behavior for them.
The Village Community*: Has a son with autism disorder and
finds it important to notify officer as they are approaching the
vehicle of what type of behavior her son may be exhibiting.
Illinois had yellow dot program in which an individual with a
disability can request a yellow dot sticker from the DOT to put
on vehicle and provide visual indicator to officer.
Hayes*: Encourages use of Road ID, which is a band that
provides name, DOB, and custom info (such as disability). This
can help the officer understand the situation better and respond
appropriately, especially in situations where the individual is
non-verbal.
Mims*: The more info officers can have and the sooner they can
get it will help the response be more effective and efficient. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Councilors: Wrap-up and thank you.
The Village Community*: Appreciative of interactions her
family/clients have had with ICPD – always find them helpful,
prepared, and professional.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
7:00 p.m. Meeting Concludes.
LISTENING POST #3 NOTES: Sept. 26, 2020 at 10 a.m. at Hubbard Park
LISTENING POST TOPIC: University of Iowa Students
COUNCILORS IN ATTENDANCE:
☒ TEAGUE ☐ SALIH ☐ MIMS ☐ THOMAS ☒ TAYLOR ☐ BERGUS ☒ WEINER
CITY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Interim Police Chief Brotherton, Geoff Fruin
SERVICE PROVIDERS IN ATTENDANCE: UI Student Government, UI Police Department, CommUnity
ESTIMATED TOTAL NUMBER OF PUBLIC ATTENDEES: 10
(COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS DENOTED WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Mayor + UISG welcome
Public: How is student government involved in process to
evaluate public safety?
UISG*: Focus is primarily on campus. Two liaisons to City Council
that are engaged in city discussions. Focus on mental health
services and residence hall interactions with police.
☒ ☐ ☒ ☒
Public: Students should connect in with GuideLink Center and
see what partnerships can develop. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: What resources are in place for students struggling with
alcohol issues?
UISG*: Trained staff available to work with students with
substance abuse issues (out of IMU), lots of non-alcohol centric
programming. Full-time staff on prevention (Partnership for
Alcohol Safety).
☐ ☐ ☒ ☒
Public: What would UISG do with unlimited funds?
UISG*: More support services from professionals, alternative
programming, training bar staff on how they can intervene
(medical amnesty).
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Feels there is widespread community support for mental
health professionals to respond to crisis calls. Examples:
CAHOOTs (Eugene, OR), CCIT NYC program (New York).
Explanation of CAHOOTs program.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
CommUnity Staff* – Explanation of local crisis services and
needs, including Mobile Crisis Unit. Good relationship with ICPD
and fortunate that Johnson County has invested in CIT training.
Mobile Crisis funded through Mental Health Region and need
more investment to create stability and expand services.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
(COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS DENOTED WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
ICPD* - Explains existing Data Driven Justice Initiative (DDJI)
efforts and collaboration with Mobile Crisis, GuideLink, Cross
Park Place, etc. Officer training includes how to use these
programs.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Public: 40 hours of CIT not appropriate to provide care needed.
Need response from trained professionals, not ICPD. ☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Councilor Weiner*: How do involuntary committals work? Can
Mobile Crisis response to these types of crises?
CommUnity Staff*: Mobile crisis cannot respond to these crises
-- must be law enforcement. Probably a state law issue.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: What is breakdown of calls for service? How many are
mental health related?
Police*: Calls are complex and involve multiple issues (e.g.
domestic situation with alcohol abuse, shoplifting with mental
health, etc).
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Do officers like responding to mental health?
Police*: Like helping people and hire compassionate people who
want to help all people and find best solution with our available
resources.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: Are police overloaded?
Police*: Focus needs to be on aftercare services. Need more
resources (i.e. Guidelink Access Center, more mental health
beds, drug court, mental health court)
☒ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: Some individuals are uncomfortable calling the police.
ICPD*: We really focus on providing exceptional care and want
everyone to feel safe. Need to change narrative that calling the
police is unsafe. We are here to help and people should feel safe
asking for us to help.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
CommUnity*: Loss of mental health beds has hurt us. Agree
with ICPD that more aftercare services are really needed. The
call for service is the beginning and not the end – that’s what
gets the individual in need connected to the resources.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
UIPD*: UIPD constantly re-imagining services as new students
come in with more ideas. Percentage of calls is very low for
mental health, alcohol. Officers good at going into tense
situation and de-escalating. Agree there is need for aftercare
services to help people, repeat callers are an issue because of
lack of aftercare. Mobile crisis has been a ‘godsend’ for law
enforcement.
☐ ☒ ☒ ☐
UISG*: Is there an update on changes with police department
and what’s being done across the country? ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
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(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
UIPD*: Too early to tell where UIPD is going. Mental health
response units are already being developed and have been.
Must really focus on victim services to help them – in part to
avoid them falling into crisis. Also new programs always being
developed – medical amnesty practice, SHOUT program, etc.
We are heading down the right path and excited to go down the
path of reimagining and strengthening our service.
UISG*: Do we talk to other Big 10 cities about these issues?
Suggestion to bring student government into conversations with
other cities.
UIPD/ICPD*: We have an annual meeting and ongoing listservs
to share practices. These partnerships drive innovation.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Councilor Weiner*: Need a drug and mental health court.
UIPD/ICPD*: Agree that those are needed services here. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
UISG*: Does alcohol enforcement downtown can create tension
with PD?
ICPD*: Downtown used to be an unsafe environment due to
excessive alcohol. We are there to help people stay safe.
UISG*: Could bars police themselves?
ICPD*: Alcohol Beverage Division’s training programs, such as
TIPS (Training for Intervention Procedures) aimed to do that.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Budgetary hole that fosters these problems. Need to
think more about front end services so that the calls are avoided
(housing, food security, etc.).
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Focus on societal problems before calls are made. Need
to understand experiences of persons of color. Personal
experiences with police are positive, but what about BIPOC
experiences with police? Every year that changes with new
students and the experiences they bring with them.
ICPD*: Agree and community outreach officer role intends to
help with this issue.
Public: Think of big problems and existing gaps (e.g. food
insecurity). What struggles that people have can we help with as
a community? Let’s solve those problems.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
MEETING CONCLUDES AT 11:15 A.M. WRAP-UP AND THANK YOU.
LISTENING POST #4 NOTES: Sept. 29, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. at Wetherby Park
LISTENING POST TOPIC: Abuse and victims of abuse
COUNCILORS IN ATTENDANCE:
☒ TEAGUE ☐ SALIH ☐ MIMS ☐ THOMAS ☐ TAYLOR ☒ BERGUS ☐ WEINER
CITY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Sgt. Stevens, Officer Clarahan, Officer Nieland, Geoff Fruin, Ashley Monroe
SERVICE PROVIDERS IN ATTENDANCE: Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP), Nisaa African Family
Services, Rape Victim Advocacy Program (RVAP)
ESTIMATED TOTAL NUMBER OF PUBLIC ATTENDEES: 40
(COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS DENOTED WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Councilor welcome
DVIP*: Overview of services and importance of partnerships. ☐ ☒ ☒ ☐
Public: What does DVIP want to see from a reimagined police
department?
DVIP*: Work with ICPD and has for 20 years. A lot of
improvement has been made, continued growth is important
particularly with race and poverty. City made big step forward
with Victim Services Coordinator position approval. There is a
big population that is not able to or not willing to accept services
from DVIP. Need to improve that offering.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
RVAP*: Overview of services for victims of sexual violence.
Race, gender, age and other personal characteristics all matter
and it is impossible to erase violence. Partnerships are
necessary. We need to challenge systems (e.g. hiring processes)
and challenge ourselves.
☐ ☒ ☒ ☐
Nisaa*: Overview of services: Focus on African Immigrant
services and culturally-specific responses. Work on sexual
violence, domestic violence, and human trafficking. Language
translation services important and system mistrust is an issue
that they help victims through. Need help building awareness of
services throughout entire community. Need more
conversations – including uncomfortable ones. Important to
acknowledge racial bias. There is a fear for victims to call police
because of fear of violence from police…even though it hasn’t
happened in Iowa City. The belief and fear is real. If you don’t
speak the same language you don’t get the same level of service
☐ ☒ ☒ ☒
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(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
– Nisaa helps bridge this gap. Cultural competency training is
very important. Police bringing in a social worker is a positive
step forward. We are talking with police about this position and
building relationships, the social worker will help create a
comfortable environment for victims. Those discussions have
been ongoing for a few years, not just a new initiative. Outreach
assistant is working with us on educational efforts on U.S. laws
because cultural disconnects can occur. Nisaa also works on
human trafficking issues with ICPD. Need to intervene and
communicate with each other early to best help victims.
Public: What are biggest obstacles to serving this population?
Nisaa*: Uncomfortable conversations can be a barrier,
community needs to be open to discussions. Also, referrals are
important and currently working on that with law enforcement
and court systems. Language barriers are big problem too. There
is trust with systems and racial injustice and we need to
continue discussions after listening posts.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: Personal experience with sexual abuse, thankful for
those who support victims. ☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Sgt. Stevens*: Career focused on victim support and domestic
assault specialty. So important to be culturally humble. City has
had a domestic violence position since 1997 and has a dedicated
sexual assault detective as well. Johnson County has sexual
assault response team. Overview of grant with focus on gender
bias and LGBTQ support, and of Victim Support Coordinator
position.
Partnerships are so important, we value existing partnerships
and want to improve. Continual improvement is key.
☐ ☒ ☒ ☐
Public*: Will ICPD look to more social work assistance?
Sgt. Stevens*: Current relationship with UI School of Social Work
to continue intern program. Would love to see a whole division
of social work in the ICPD. Noted Chattanooga, TN as a model
police department in this area.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: What about social work response to calls?
Teague*: Have heard from the community that this is important
and will continue to explore it.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: What is status of hiring full-time social worker?
Sgt. Stevens* – In progress right now, currently have an intern
and volunteer on board.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Public: Is it normal for a sexual assault to take a year to
investigate and process? ☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
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(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
SUMMARY OF LISTENING POST CONVERSATION: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Sgt. Stevens*: Yes, sometimes lab result can take many months.
Delayed reporting, evidence availability, etc. all impact timing.
Public*: What would community policing look like to you?
Sgt Stevens*: Policing means more than law enforcement. These
conversations need to take place to identify positive “policing”
techniques.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
DVIP*: Adding a social worker is an important element but not
enough. We also need to carefully evaluate how inserting a one
profession into another potentially changes services and we
need to address key issues of housing, substance abuse, etc.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Support CAHOOTs model (Eugene, OR). What support
exists for those traumatized from interactions with police?
ICPD/City Staff: Space to make people comfortable talking at
police department and opportunities to include outside
organizations and Human Rights Office.
☒ ☐ ☒ ☐
RVAP*: Survivors want acknowledgement and accountability.
What is one thing inside the police culture that you can do
differently to help build bridges and continue with
accountability?
Teague*: We need to have police continue to hear stories of
negative interaction.
Sgt. Stevens*: Understanding bias is a big component.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: how do we continue conversations after this series?
Teague*: This is a long process and council is committed to
navigating it.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Advocate for RVAP – survivors don’t often report. Need
transformative justice approaches. Cautious about pairing police
and social work based on Des Moines experience. Lost trust
after tear gas incident.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Nisaa* – Must address racial profiling. ☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
MEETING CONCLUDES AT 7:15 P.M. WRAP-UP AND THANK YOU.
LISTENING POST #5 NOTES: Oct. 6, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. at Chauncey-Swan Park
LISTENING POST TOPIC: People experiencing homelessness
COUNCILORS IN ATTENDANCE:
☐ TEAGUE ☐ SALIH ☒ MIMS ☒ THOMAS ☒ TAYLOR ☐ BERGUS ☐ WEINER
CITY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Sgt. McKnight, Officer Schwindt, Officer Fowler
SERVICE PROVIDERS IN ATTENDANCE: Shelter House, Guidelink Access Center, Mobile Crisis Unit, United Action
for Youth
ESTIMATED TOTAL NUMBER OF PUBLIC ATTENDEES: 7
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Shelter House*: Overview of Shelter House services – provide
year-round 70-bed emergency shelter for single adults +
families with children, low-barrier winter shelter, short-term
rental assistance, help people find and retain housing, own 46
rental properties, eviction prevention and homeless
prevention programs.
Overview of Cross Park Place – 24 units for those who are
chronically homeless, partnered with police to ensure being
homeless isn’t a crime in Iowa City. Work with police in a lot of
programs and services. ICDD + ICPD created a position in 2013
to focus on community policing in downtown, and this
position frequently interacted with individuals experiencing
homelessness, which helped to reveal needs of homeless and
how police and agencies could partner to address these needs
and determine how Cross Park Place could work best.
☐ ☒ ☒ ☐
Councilor Mims*: Cross Park Place is an example of some of
the partnerships that have been going on for a long time.
Number of nights in jail + number of times individuals were in
ER were 2 important data points in understanding what was
needed in starting this project.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Guidelink Representative*: Overview of County’s jail
alternative efforts & post-booking jail diversion program.
Johnson County was one of first communities in Iowa to adopt
the full 40-hour CIT training. All hired officers have completed
training (except new hires since COVID) and staff are currently
working on continuing education/training opportunities.
Overview of Guidelink Access Center - in the works, will
provide crisis observation, crisis stabilization, sobering and
detox, and near winter shelter. In the past, jails and ERs were
the only place for people to go if they needed somewhere safe
– Guidelink will provide a more effective alternative. Many
ways to access the center including referral by other agencies
or police, referral by friends/family, walk-ins, self-referral. No
wrong way to get the help/resources you need.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Officer Schwindt*: Was first downtown district liaison, did
foot and bike patrol full-time in downtown district. PD had
been receiving a lot of complaints related to homelessness so
spent bulk of time in this position doing outreach and having
conversations with individuals who are homeless. At first, they
would scatter b/c they were used to police only showing up
when there was a problem. However, consistent relationship-
building and trust-building with these individuals allowed
them to begin feeling comfortable approaching police.
Also was involved in data collection for Cross Park Place
project. Guidelink will be alternate option to jail or ER for
police, which has traditionally been o the only options for
officers. Found that before Cross Park opened, residents spent
107 nights every quarter in jail and half a year after opening
this number had dropped to 5.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Mims*: Cross Park also has partnerships with UI and has
mental health caregivers come and provide services for
residents.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Public: What is available for runaway youth? ☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
UAY*: UAY has a program for homeless youth, which is meant
to be an independent living program. If shelter is needed,
refer to Foundation 2 in Cedar Rapids or Shelter house/Cross
Park for those over 18. Currently no emergency youth shelter
in Johnson County.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Public: How long can people stay at Cross Park Place?
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Shelter House*: It is permanent housing. We expect many
people to live there the rest of their life. Some may live there
for a while and then decide they don’t want that level of
support and move into an affordable independent housing
option. But residents can live there as long as they want. Of
course, 24 units isn’t enough so exploring ways to increase
this service since it has shown such good results and
outcomes. Have been awarded funds through national
housing trust fund and are hoping to build approx. 36 more
units within next year or so, but still some things that need to
be worked out before this goes forward.
Public: What types of things does Shelter House or Cross Park
staff need to call police for?
Shelter House*: Staff are trained to de-escalate situations. If a
situation gets dangerous, they call law enforcement. If it is a
safety issue and staff don’t feel they can handle it or fear
violence may happen or is happening, that is when they rely
on police and their skills.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: When the Guidelink Center opens, will there be an
opportunity for the public to tour it?
Guidelink*: Slated to open in Feb. 2021. With COVID in mind,
there will be some smaller open houses, details TBD.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Mims*: During work on Cross Park Place (CPP), learned an
individual cannot get into assisted living unless they have a
permanent address. An example is of one individual who was
in CPP for only a month, but that allowed them to establish a
permanent address and get into an assisted living facility.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: With new Guidelink Center – if an officer is called, how
do they determine where to take someone?
Guidelink*: It is a voluntary facility so individual must be
willing and aware that’s where they’re going. Must also be
non-violent and medically stable. So, if they are free of
concerning injury and are agreeable to go there, they can go.
Shelter House*: A front desk/triage system will help
determine what people who come in need. Is it crisis
stabilization, detox, shelter, etc.? Staff will work with officer to
determine which type of service the individual needs.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Guidelink*: Mobile Crisis Unit is another resource which helps
determine where the individual should go.
Public: What is Mobile Crisis Unit?
CommUnity*: Teams of mental health counselors who will
respond to a crisis. The team will assess the situation and
determine what types of services may be needed. The goal is
to not call police and not send to hospital – 88% rate of
hospital diversion. With Guidelink, everyone will be seen by
Mobile Crisis team, who will help determine best type of care
and service for the individual. Will work both in access center
and also still out in the community.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Public: Does the Mobile Crisis Unit respond to people even if
they aren’t home?
CommUnity*: Yes, have responded to hospitals, schools, other
agencies, and just on the street. They will go anywhere to
respond to people as they need to.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: What additional efforts are being made with COVID
and colder winter months to get homeless people somewhere
safe during the day?
Shelter House*: A lot of public facilities are closed so people
don’t have the same options they did in previous years. A
group of providers are collaborating right now to determine
what we’re going to do this winter.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Are we housing anyone outside Johnson County jail?
Johnson County*: We are still housing some individuals out of
county. The services we’re talking about tonight are helping to
reduce the numbers. Every week, meet to discuss how
recurring individuals can get into diversion and stabilization
programs.
Shelter House*: There is a group who meets with individuals
who are currently homeless or having a housing crisis to learn
what the best response is for them. Agencies also get calls
from law enforcement when there are people are in jail who
the officers do not feel needs to be in jail, but just needs a
stable housing situation. Unique that we have jail diversion
staff involved in these meetings, many communities do not.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Public: Whenever people are being cared for, there is
opportunity for abuse. How do we prevent that at Shelter
House and CPP?
Shelter House*: The people we work with are not in
dependent adult caregiving situation, but we also have people
under the roof who are not our employees (i.e. nurses, mental
health professionals, etc.) who can provide checks and
balances. Have processes for reporting or grievances if people
feel they’ve been mistreated.
Mims*: GuideLink is for people 18 and over. Aware there is a
need to have an option for people under 18.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Has anyone who entered cross park place left?
Shelter House*: Nobody else left by their own volition, and if
they had to leave, they saved their unit for them until they
could come back.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: Statement of support for IFRs stance on policing and
mental health. Does not feel cops are trained as mental health
professionals. CAHOOTSs model suggested (Eugene, OR).
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Do people who live in these facilities have jobs?
Shelter House*: At Shelter House many people have jobs and
want to have jobs and are able to have jobs. Also have ‘job
lab’ at shelter with a staffer dedicated to helping people find
jobs.
At Cross Park, mental health needs or other situations make it
a little harder for people to find work. So we started our own
contractual janitorial service where many CPP residents work.
Also have a job coach who helps make sure job is done, but
also handles any mental health issues that impact the group
and/or the work. Fresh Starts program has been going on for
8-9 years and been a way to help employ people who struggle
or have struggled due to their disability to keep job. There are
also some who are not employed.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Mims*: Thank you to providers. They have expertise and do so
much to bring this all together. With Guidelink the emphasis is
to make sure people are connected to other services, so when
they leave they have a “warm hand-off” so they aren’t just
back to where they were before. Programs and services are
designed to help people avoid revolving door as much as
possible.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: Can you explain Shelter House services and meals?
Shelter House*: Shelter serves breakfast and dinner and many
use Free Lunch Program. Salvation army also serves dinner for
people not in shelters. At Cross Park, each unit has kitchenette
-- meals aren’t provided but staff provide education about
nutrition and how to make meals and buy groceries or access
other resources.
Other services - Rapid re-housing program. Try to make
episodes of homelessness end as quickly as possible and help
people with short-term with deposits and rent and then other
wraparound services to help them maintain housing. Many
are able to retain their own housing after a year.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☐
Public: As we consider CAHOOTs model, important to
remember we have resources and expertise in our community
to do this. Be intentional about who we are sending – not
sending police at all to these calls is an idea and models exist
for this.
Schwindt*: Has been in touch with the organizations in
Eugene who are running CAHOOTs. The Eugene PD does
frequently respond with CAHOOTs team -- CAHOOTs team is
primary contact but they are very often dispatched together.
Police would love if mental health professionals could respond
to mental health calls, but many times mental health
professionals do not want their staff to go alone for safety
reasons.
Public: Heard that in Eugene, 1 in 80 calls involve asking PD for
backup. When it goes through dispatch, PD hears it and can be
on standby if they are needed. Discretion on when to bring in
PD should lie with peer professional instead of officer.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”)
(“PUBLIC” REFERS TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ QUESTION/ CONCERN
Schwindt*: Noticed there is significant difference between the
data that is provided by CAHOOTs clinic and what is provided
by Eugene police. Likely because they were originally doing
this model for their community’s unique needs, and didn’t
know they would be a model for others so data collection
wasn’t a top priority. Would be happy to discuss further.
MEETING CONCLUDES AT 6:30 P.M., WRAP-UP AND THANK-YOUS.
LISTENING POST #6 NOTES: Oct. 8, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. at Dream City
LISTENING POST TOPIC: Youth engagement
COUNCILORS IN ATTENDANCE:
☒ TEAGUE ☐ SALIH ☐ MIMS ☐ THOMAS ☐ TAYLOR ☒ BERGUS ☐ WEINER
CITY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Sgt. Bailey, Daisy Torres, Ashley Monroe, Rachel Kilburg
SERVICE PROVIDERS IN ATTENDANCE: Dream City, United Action for Youth
ESTIMATED TOTAL NUMBER OF PUBLIC ATTENDEES: 25
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ CONCERN
UAY*: Overview of UAY services -- have been partnering
with ICPD on shoplifter diversion program. COVID-19
spawned start of coordinated truancy outreach program.
☐ ☐ ☒ ☒
Dream City*: Youth programs designed to keep youth out of
systems. Currently operating a Return to Learn program,
providing school space for youth and working with young
fathers. Interested in doing a partnership with the ICPD to
start addressing police relations with young, black men –
helping both sides to see each other in a different light and
change perceptions/build relationships. Example: invited
families to this event, but there was resistance to being
involved in anything with/about police.
☐ ☒ ☒ ☒
Public: How would Dream City reimagine relationships with
police?
Dream City*: Basketball was great but the teams were small
and not many could play; seeking new options to have more
people participate. Need to identify why there is fear about
even having conversations.
UAY*: Agreed; events that invite police can lead kids to
dismiss value; youth will say “this is great but it’s not how
they treat us in our neighborhood.”
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Recommends documentary “Ernie + Joe: Crisis Cops”;
NAMI is sponsoring film in spring. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ CONCERN
Torres* (ICPD Community Outreach Assistant): In her
experience uniform can be scary for some populations, need
to break down those walls, being face-to-face and going to
groups where they’re comfortable has been best; first
impressions of police on youth so important
Public (teen services, ICPL): Is there a way to see how we’re
doing with policing?
Torres*: Annual report, website
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
UAY*: We can design the programs we think you need, but
community input is so important so we know what you need
and want for our youth.; honest dialogue needed, “fear all
around” and have vulnerable conversations
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Overview of CAHOOTs model (Eugene, OR) ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
Public: Need to increase direct neighborhood outreach, not
many members of the neighborhood here.
Public (Member of South Dist. Neighborhood Assoc.): That’s
why we created the South District Neighborhood Assoc. and
what we’ve been trying to do. It’s in early stages but it is
working, the new mural is a good example.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public/Lori: County DMC Committee and ICCSD Youth
Development Policy Board are good ways to continue this
conversation
Public: In 2008, we had a discussion with the schools on
disproportionate expulsion and discipline and 10 years later,
we’re having the same conversation. Need to get POC at the
table and be ready to talk about difficult things.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ CONCERN
Dream City*: Black voices have been saying the same thing
for so many years – why should they keep coming to public
input meetings and saying the same thing when we know
what the problem is. Also, focus keeps getting put on cops,
but who calls the cops for issues at school or community?
The community – they are scared of POC.
Public*: Police is important part of convo, but what are
White people doing to educate themselves? White people
need to understand more about social injustices, historical
inequities. White people call police on Black people.
Everyone pays taxes, but only one race can call the police for
help. Are these efforts just checking a box?
Mayor Teague: City Council is not considering this “checking
a box.” We’re committed and this is a unique opportunity.
COVID has offered a time for the community to reflect. This
won’t be a ‘one and done’ thing – we’ll make mistakes and
have to come back to the table, but [action] starts here.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
UAY*: How do we get white people to do the work and
explore bias without putting pressure on black people to
lead that? We love Iowa City but we are not untouched by
racism. UAY is putting out some trainings.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: Ref. Robin D’Angelo: ‘progressive, White people are
barrier to ending racism.’ We feel so good about going to
meetings and feeling like we’re doing something that we
forget how we need to be an ally.
Public: Not just ally, but accomplice. Idea – could develop a
rating system, like LEED, but for diversity and inclusion.
Public: What about courses taught at school? Is there
anything (cited Southern Poverty Law Center curriculum)
about tolerance, history of race? In US? Students are asking
for these topics.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☒
Cordell Campbell (ICCSD): Next step is to create an action
plan. As a social worker, sees that excessive Use of Force is
one of the biggest problems (with kids), what is PD doing to
address UoF?
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ CONCERN
Public: Why is this time going to be any different?
Mayor*: Floyd video broke through -- 2020 has been hard
but its forced us to slow down, thus everyone is
experiencing and processing this differently than in the past.
We have a lot to do, but City has used racial equity toolkit to
make meaningful change.
☐ ☐ ☐ ☒
Public: Thankful for council starting this, but people need to
keep showing up to support them in this work. Has
personally witnessed excessive use of force against POC in
Iowa City.
☒ ☒ ☐ ☐
Bergus: Iowa City is majority White and a lot of times White
people will call the police on Black people -- not intending
harm, but it can lead to that. Does ICPD see this?
Sgt. Bailey*: That is a real phenomenon. If he hears this on
the radio, he’ll usually tell officers just drive by, don’t make
contact but supervisors can’t listen to dispatch 24/7 to give
that direction. PD does not have time to make contact for
every call, so they let things go that may have otherwise
resulted in a positive or negative interaction. These calls
don’t happen every day, but often enough. It can be hard for
POD to know what the caller is perceiving and make a
judgement call based on assumptions. Mental health
resources are important.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☒
Public: Works and lives in area of affordable housing and
had been getting about 4 calls a day to his properties – a lot
unjustified. In response, they created “community boards”
so complaints would go there to get mediated by the
community before police engagement – action has resulted
in approx. 70% drop in calls to police. Solved by “community
nourishment and personal level education.” Also has
construction business and recruits young, black men and has
found success in teaching youth what officers’ goals are –
not always ticket, punishment.
☐ ☒ ☐ ☐
Public: Can next work session be an update on what
councilor’s are thinking about CAHOOTs model?
Mayor*: Need to digest public input, not everyone attended
every session. We know CAHOOTs has been mentioned, but
it’s not the only model. This needs to be a full council
discussion about next steps. But still a lot of work to do and
a lot of time to talk to us.
☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
(DENOTE COUNCILOR OR SERVICE PROVIDER COMMENTS WITH AN ASTERISK “*”) TYPE OF COMMENT
PUBLIC COMMENT SUMMARY: IDEA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE EXISTING SERVICE
ROOT OF PROBLEM/ CONCERN
Public: school curriculum very important to address topics of
systemic racism. “Oppression is learned very young”. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☒
Mayor*: Thank you and wrap-up. Long way to go, but it will
result in a plan that is the best fit for our community. ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐
MEETING CONCLUDED AT APPROXIMATELY 7:30 P.M.
Community Policing Online Public Input Form – Summary of Submissions
Collected: August 25 – October 15, 2020
Date Submission Text
3-Sep Anyone that says the ICPD is perfect is wrong. Literally nothing is perfect but there are
things that can get pretty close. ICPD has a lot of untapped potential and some things
that could change. Also the fact that I've not heard ANYONE from the City or Council
come out and say more than a subtle comment in favor of this police department blows
my mind. There are a lot of things they're doing right and one of the only PDs in the
state doing. I would like to see more outreach being done. I see the same few people
and it looks like it's those few people that carry outreach efforts. Iowa City is big enough
that to make the work impactful and not overbearing for the people doing it there
needs to be a legit team. Also why are they at the rec center in like a closet? I used to go
to RAL all the time before COVID and noticed the like 1 or 2 people that do outreach
were in basically a closet. Regular patrol people should be going to stuff too and if you
have the outreach people in a whole different building I don't know how much harder
they have to work to be seen by coworkers. I'm not against them being there but you'd
think they'd all be housed together. I've been harassed by bad cops in the past and I can
tell you ICPD doesn't have them. They have maybe a few that enjoy their job a lil too
much but none that I'd be scared to get shot or killed by. Like literally not one person
has died here from police brutality in the last like 20 years. I'm for change but yall need
to take a look at what you have locally rather than makin decisions based on stuff
hundreds of miles away. We have it really good here and it could be better but only
listening to the turds in the street doesn't help. They hate police way more than they
care about black lives.
11-Sep It seems to me that we can sample the activity log and develop profiles of the types of
police calls we actually have across seasons and years, and restructure the police
department accordingly. By which I mean that many of the calls clearly do not need the
attention of armed officers or people trained in violence. Once we know those
proportions, we can reallocate the budget accordingly, hire medical and social workers
and mediators in the numbers we need, and look for people and communities that
manage to police violent crimes and situations well so that we can learn from them. I
would also think that when we say "law enforcement can rarely solve complex societal
problems alone," if we mean there "normal police can rarely solve...alone" at that point
we're talking about the proportion of calls that actually are violent or likely to be
violent, and then that's the part we're looking at here. I don't think this meeting should
be about the entirety of police responsibility as we have it described now. So - bit of
cart before horse, then.
12-Sep ICPD would open a dedicated office for training officers in local community relations.
This training would be field work and would be reclaimed as credit hours for counting
towards an officers resume. Effective Training is arguably even more important than
careful recruitment, in part because its a more pragmatic solution. This training in
particular would involve field work with medical users for education on marijuana and
its application with the medical community, immigration counseling with refugees or
asylees with limited english proficiency, job shadowing domestic abuse neighborhood
counselors, speak at LGBTQ advocacy agencies, and engage BLM initiatives. Their role in
practical training would consist of individual officers being assigned and effectively
taking part, and participating in several initiatives with the community at large in
connection with those issues, instead of just low income neighborhoods, since those
typically already suffer from a stereotypical relationship with the police, and
consequently should not be used as pilot studies for yet another experimental program.
The options would be diverse. This would happen during office hours. This training
could eventually help officers establish community relations with residents in a more
personable and non confrontational way. Outcomes of such reassignment of officers
during work hours hypothetically comes at a price of having less officers patrolling, but
regular program evaluations would determine if this would indeed affect their typical
policing work alongside communities, compared to a fully deployed police department
doing typical police work. Some previous adjustments could be made, i.e. different
precincts could make up for each others staff shortages in between reassignments. The
bottom line is: the PD at large, not only in Iowa City, should want to expand their levels
of expertise and influence in the communities, and only they have the resources, and its
in their own interest for acting towards that. Any arguments that this is a two way
street, and how the police has a good part of the constituency always supporting what
they do regardless, will only result in procrastination. This is an opportunity for the
police to rise to the occasion, not a contingency, and in fact also a unique opportunity
because the alternative of working together with the communities, is to continue to
work with or without them.
13-Sep 1) The CPRB should be expanded to allow for complaints into other areas of city
government (housing ect.) 2) There should be a formal process by which members of
the CPRB can be removed if necessary. 3) Officers should hands on training in physical
restraint tactics (wrestling ect.) 1-2 times a year minnimum
14-Sep First off, I want to make sure it's clear that I don't support defunding the police (when
defund means abolish). Restructuring to include more community policing is the way to
go, and I think Iowa City is already doing a good job of doing this. I think community
policing means more collaboration between the police department and our local social
service agencies. I think it would be great to have someone who specializes in mental
health/crisis situations on the police force who can tag team with police officers in
responding to mental health calls. Same could go for responding to sexual assault
situations and domestic abuse. Community police liaisons, similar to what you have in
the Iowa City Downtown District. Have someone who is directly assigned to a
neighborhood, that is trained in mental health situations/abuse/etc. Serve as a
connector to resources, builds positive relationships with the neighborhood
constituents. I do think they need to have all of the skills/training of a traditional police
officer too though in case they encounter a dangerous situation. You may do this
already - but I think you should pay police officers to take time to volunteer at a local
nonprofit every month. Dream City, Shelter House, Free Lunch Program, Harm
Reduction Coalition. Building positive relationships (especially with the youth) is key.
Thank you to our police for everything that they do!
15-Sep For the sake of citizens as well as the police, mental health professionals should respond
to mental health calls. Mental health professionals deal with these issues on a daily
basis. Once they respond, they can properly determine if and when the police may need
to be involved. The goal is to avoid situations like the Daniel Prude police response in
NYC and the George Maser police response in Coralville earlier this month. Seeing
uniformed police can create fear and unnecessarily escalate a situation. A person in
mental health distress needs to be calmed down. Police do not have the same
professional training in this area as do Mental Health professionals.
16-Sep Please note that doctors and nurses in hospitals and ER rooms deal with individuals
undergoing mental health distress constantly. Yet they are almost never injured or in
any real danger. What is the difference between this scenario and when police respond
to an incident with a mentally unstable individual or someone having an acute event?
The answer is the weaponry and dominance inherent in the police system in the US.
When they respond to a scene, they automatically escalate whatever was happening
before they arrived. People involved in mental health crises, addiction crises, and even
most domestic disputes need a calming authoritative presence -- not an officer with a
gun, taser and the attitude that someone is doing something wrong and needs to be
stopped. This is how we end up with many of the high-profile incidents we see in the
news these days --- and many, many more of the low-profile cases we don't ever see.
There are not only two options: (1) keep supporting ICPD as usual or (2) completely
dismantle the police with nothing in its place and don't prosecute any violent crimes.
That is how some people wish to frame it, but think of the million variations on these
themes that fall somewhere between the two. Let's be innovative, look at the data and
research, and make the changes necessary to keep our most marginalized citizens safe.
16-Sep Mandatory ride alongs for City Council members and those involved in police budget
decisions. Also better communication and stories from Iowa City Police on the threats
they face every day. The general public probably has no idea.
23-Sep fuck the police. fuck the institution that allows innocent people to die before a verdict is
met. fuck the institution that allows breonna taylor’s killers to roam free. there is no
such thing as good policing or a good cop. the only thing to do is to abolish the police. to
have police is a form of white supremacy and danger. it’s disgusting
24-Sep Police are currently entrance screened to obey orders > obey conscience. Reverse this. I
want the council to change the police entrance screening format in order to admit
recruits who will obey their conscience over their orders.
25-Sep Please consider hiring social workers who are trained to respond to such situations such
as domestic violence and issues related to mental health calls. The social worker would
accompany a police office to respond to these calls. The social worker would know what
resources (other than getting arrested) that are available to help the citizen in these
predicaments. Thank you for all you do to keep the citizens of Iowa City safe.
25-Sep so many calls involve people in mental health related crisis so we need a first response
team of mental health providers to be one of the first on scene. They need to be
certified and uniformed i.e., Ghost Busters. Implicit bias needs to be addressed. Its real
and systemic and unfairly impacts lower socioeconomic groups.
25-Sep We need to habe specfic officers assigned to neoghborhoods. Like Ofc Jones, Smith and
Cary are all assigned to a specric quadrant of Iowa City...they are the ones dribing
around, rhey are the ones that respond to misiance calls, they are the onesthat respond
to the achools in the neighborhood. Also if a disabled person or some with like say
Autism is having a moment or melt down, and they specfically ask for their
neighborhood officer, they will come to the location. A familiar face will diffuse the
situation quickly and safely. Yes, if there is an emergency and a police officer needs to
be there now, of cpurse the first available will go, but the neighborhood officer will
need to be there too. Oce cream socials for school, Party at The Park events etc that are
neighborhood specfic, the orficer should make an appearance. There needs to be a
more neighborhood community approach to policing this city, everything else if broken
down by neighborhoods (Northside, LUcas Farms, Morningside, etc) the police need to
be too.
25-Sep I would like policing in Iowa City, and in general, to be focused on crime and those who
commit crime. I'm certainly not opposed to the city trying some new models of policing,
including social service providers responding to calls that would fit their expertise more
closely. However, and as unpleasant as it may be, there are those who choose to
commit crime, those who habitually choose to commit crime, and there are real victims
of that crime. We currently live in a safe community were violent crime is rare, and I
think this is in part because we have a professional, well trained, and well led police
force. My interactions with Iowa City police during my time here (15 years), have been
typically marked by courtesy and professionalism. I see no need to dismantle, defund,
re-imagine,... or any other current term of art, the current policing structure in Iowa
City. In fact, I think it is time that we could all consider leaving the bitter language and
slogans, i.e. "F... the Police", "ACAB", etc... behind and try to speak a bit about the
difficult and important role that police have in our community and society in general.
25-Sep Those trained in mental health and social services would work together with a police
escort on calls pertaining to those issues. No funding for riot gear and military
weaponry/ vehicles. Police walk beats, communicate and get to know neighborhoods
where they live and work. Deescalation and non-lethal methods of policing used
whenever possible.
26-Sep Iowa City community policing should center on the community more than on the police.
It should prioritize the preferences and values of the many neighborhoods in IC, and
respect their differences and the different ways they want to interact with, or NOT
interact with, the police. It should include full transparency and accountability for police
officers and other city employees with respect to the use of force (including discharge
of firearms AND crowd control devices), racial disparity in policing acts (including those
that do not result in citations), and other abusive behavior while on and off duty
including domestic violence. Rebuilding and maintaining the trust of all those who live
and work in Iowa City is essential, and greater transparency and accountability are
crucial, more important than positive interactions with police officers. It should also
include far greater investment in community mental health, substance abuse, food
banks, and other community resources, especially crisis counselors and conflict
resolution experts who are not police officers.
26-Sep Don't get rid of police. Don't switch to community policing. Let them do their jobs or
you are going to make the entire community unsafe and not worth living in and people
of many races will move away from areas without justice. Stop focusing so much on
race and let the police focus on justice. Don't change the police. You don't need police
reform. You already have good police. Stop trying to follow trends like this of big cities
that most people don't want. Don't let BLM represent the majority because they don't
represent most people here or their desires so if their will is carried out you would not
be representing or pleasing the majority of people. Listen to the citizens that aren't
defacing public property but are building up the community through work and paying
taxes that are of the majority or quite frankly, the city will reflect the changes by
becoming much lower quality. Consider alternative opinions to the popular but fleeting
trends that don't consider the reality of those trends. If you dismantle police, or
fundamentally change police so they can't carry out justice, you will make a much less
safe community. You will make this an undesirable place to live.
27-Sep We need real accountability to the community. No profiling, no being pulled over for
minor infraction because the person is not white. We need the police to be working
with our citizens not against them. (that is no violence! tear gas toward individuals just
attempting to exercise their first amendment rights is wrong!) Many riots across this
nation have been a threat to their communities but many of them are instigated by the
police. This cannot happen in Iowa City. I would like to see city budgets evaluated for a
future beyond policing... more community safety and partnering. Trust must be
developed. Other organizations, maybe even churches need to be involved besides the
police. I am glad to hear the city talking about root causes of crime. This is an
importance facet. And I agree that law enforcement should not be solving complex
societal problems alone. Officers need more training about how to socially interact with
citizens. I do not know what the requirements are to become a police officer, but I think
more than attending police school is in order. Possibly a college degree. I would like to
see a citizens review board that really has teeth, not a rubber stamp. We need peace
officers, not police bullies. Thank you for the opportunity to voice my concerns.
27-Sep I have lived in Iowa City for 59 years. When we moved here in 1962 there were less than
10 black families living in Iowa City. Two of those families had children that were
classmates of mine. One was from 5th grade onto high school graduation and one from
7th grade on. Both of these classmates have achieved a high level of success in life. One
has been a US Ambassador and the other a successful well known attorney. These two
classmates as well as all of the other (to my knowledge) black families had one thing in
common. THEY HAD PARENTS THAT VALUED EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP! Raising
children to respect authority is "the elephant in the room." Lack of respect for parents,
elderly, teachers, elected officials and POLICE is the the real systemic problem. You may
not always agree with these important people in your life but the level of disrespect
that is rampant today IS a root cause of societal problems. I have known several police
officers during my life in IC and they have been really solid members of this community.
I don't think most people really care about what color your skin is. I think most people
care about people's behavior. When I saw the sickening spray painting of FUCK ICPD in
many places this summer it was very unsettling to me. THIS LEVEL OF DISRESPECT is not
systemic racism but systemic BAD PARENTING!
28-Sep I would like to see police funding completely redistributed to social service
organizations included but not limited to: DVIP Shelter House Prelude CommUnity Crisis
Services and Food Bank NISAA NAMI RVAP The Housing Fellowship "Crime" is often the
result of unmet needs like mental health diagnoses, homelessness, poverty, trauma,
food insecurity, and other unmet basic needs. These issues should be left to
professionally trained counselors, social workers, therapists, advocates, etc.
28-Sep I am very supportive of Iowa City addressing the 17 point BLM plan. I think city officials
should work with the Iowa Freedom Riders and other BIPOC community leaders to
insure their input into proposals to comply with the 17 points. I believe it is time to
restructure the police department in order to insure that community services which do
not focus on enforcement of the law can work toward a healthier, more inclusive
community. Programs to provide housing, food, legal aid, reentry counseling, health
care, education (including vocational training), and employment need substantially
more funding than they currently receive. I believe that it is appropriate to allocate
some funding currently allocated to law enforcement to these community services.
1-Oct I have lived in Iowa City most of my life. It has always been a city filled with diversity
due to the University. I feel that while changes are often necessary that listening and
responding to one side of the scenario does not always provide all the facts. There are
always 2 sides to a story and for now it appears the information being received is
primarily 1 sided. When it comes to making drastic changes to our police force- I feel
that defunding is not going to correct the problems but in a sense create more. We
have had more instances of reports of shots fired and violent crimes than in any of the
years I can remember. I can't imagine sending anyone but a police officer out to check
on those calls. I also understand the need for have social workers and mental health
professionals involved but I can't imagine sending them into that situation without a
police officer because although they are trained to help deal with people with mental or
social issues they could easily become the next victim of a violent crime by the person
they are there to help. The police should have equipment available to keep our
community as well as our police officers safe. Crime is not going to go away by
defunding the police. Evil is not going to go away. There are good and bad people in all
professions. I understand the frustration and anger on both sides. But I also feel the
police are doing a good job in remaining calm when confronted by large groups that are
in a sense advocating for harm to them. They still have a job to do and if someone is
injured or harmed by them not doing their job then they will be blamed for that as well.
Without support people are less likely to do a good job because why would they care. It
is time that we show support for our police and help to involve them in the community
to build support and trust. Any changes should be put on a ballot and/or surveys should
be sent out to get the opinion of the entire community. I agree with having a fair and
impartial review board to oversee disputes and make recommendations for areas of
improvement. At this time the city council should not make changes without asking for
all community input.
2-Oct I would like to start off by saying that as a tax payer for the City of Iowa City for over 23
years, I believe that the Police department should stay funded. I do think we need more
Police officers for this growing city. Life would be so much simpler if everyone were law
abiding citizens. But as you know in today's society, that is not the case. We have laws
that make it hard for law enforcement to do there jobs. The law that permits the public
to carry guns on there person is a very big problem. This makes it difficult for police
officers to make a clear "judgment call" as to the intent of individuals who are carrying a
weapon. On the other hand, I think under those circumstances, I feel that local
government "elected officials" who serve the public, need to come up with solutions to
better provide our law enforcement officials with better resources to do there jobs
affectively. Community involvement activities is one idea. A larger presence of officials
in the public eye is another idea. Extensive frequent training for officers and security
officials is another. Also, to hold bad policing personnel accountable, like anyone else
would in there place of employment. In closing, this is not going to be an easy task to
get started. But I believe defunding the police force is not the way to go, because as a
tax payer and law abiding citizen of this city, I have the right to stay safe in my
neighborhood and in public.
2-Oct I would like to start off by saying that as a tax payer for the City of Iowa City for over 23
years, I believe that the Police department should stay funded. I do think we need more
Police officers for this growing city. Life would be so much simpler if everyone were law
abiding citizens. But as you know in today's society, that is not the case. We have laws
that make it hard for law enforcement to do there jobs. The law that permits the public
to carry guns on there person is a very big problem. This makes it difficult for police
officers to make a clear "judgment call" as to the intent of individuals who are carrying a
weapon. On the other hand, I think under those circumstances, I feel that local
government "elected officials" who serve the public, need to come up with solutions to
better provide our law enforcement officials with better resources to do there jobs
affectively. Community involvement activities is one idea. A larger presence of officials
in the public eye is another idea. Extensive frequent training for officers and security
officials is another. Also, to hold bad policing personnel accountable, like anyone else
would in there place of employment. In closing, this is not going to be an easy task to
get started. But I believe defunding the police force is not the way to go, because as a
tax payer and law abiding citizen of this city, I have the right to stay safe in my
neighborhood and in public.
4-Oct Community policing as we've done it so far isn't enough. We've talked about this for
decades, and there has been some progress, but it's not enough if poor and/or Black or
Brown people still get over-policed by officers who live in their communities. Mental
health calls, traffic violations, code violations (loud house calls and the like), really ALL
nonviolent offenses, should be responded to by people who are unarmed and not part
of the police department. Cameras should do the traffic monitoring, and they should be
placed by physical city area and not demographics. Patrols should not be planned by
how many offenses were committed in an area in the past, but by geographic area and
population density. The number of police officers on patrol should be reduced. 911 calls
should be triaged to non-police emergency responders when appropriate, and response
times should be short. I don't necessarily think that the police budget needs to be cut,
but the responsibilities of the department should be more limited. We can't get there
from here if the philosophy still is that pro-social behavior should be enforced by the
police. Real change is more fundamental than a PR campaign.
4-Oct Community policing as we've done it so far isn't enough. We've talked about this for
decades, and there has been some progress, but it's not enough if poor and/or Black or
Brown people still get over-policed by officers who live in their communities. Mental
health calls, traffic violations, code violations (loud house calls and the like), really ALL
nonviolent offenses, should be responded to by people who are unarmed and not part
of the police department. Cameras should do the traffic monitoring, and they should be
placed by physical city area and not demographics. Patrols should not be planned by
how many offenses were committed in an area in the past, but by geographic area and
population density. The number of police officers on patrol should be reduced. 911 calls
should be triaged to non-police emergency responders when appropriate, and response
times should be short. I don't necessarily think that the police budget needs to be cut,
but the responsibilities of the department should be more limited. We can't get there
from here if the philosophy still is that pro-social behavior should be enforced by the
police. Real change is more fundamental than a PR campaign.
6-Oct I would just ask that city leaders and others involved in this decision making process
spend a proportional amount of time listening to the police officers as well and
gathering their thoughts and opinions too before any “defunding” goes on. I think every
council member needs to go on a ride along and see policing in our community first
hand if they haven’t already to get a better idea of the challenges they face in
performing the job and what some of the public’s proposed ideas would actually mean
for them on the back end. Even if they have rode before, that’s not something that
should be done just once or twice just to check the box. These are the people who are
in it every single day and so to not consider or take time to hear directly from them
through their own listening posts where officers can be free to really speak their mind
to staff and council in a private setting and NOT a public setting where they have to be
politically correct cause that’s what we expect of our officers would be an unfortunate
shame. I’m sure they have a pretty good insight on whats been done in the past, what’s
worked, what hasn’t, and what would be best for all parties in our own community
moving forward. I really hope this is already being done, but saying it now just in case it
isn’t.
6-Oct I would just ask that city leaders and others involved in this decision making process
spend a proportional amount of time listening to the police officers as well and
gathering their thoughts and opinions too before any “defunding” goes on. I think every
council member needs to go on a ride along and see policing in our community first
hand if they haven’t already to get a better idea of the challenges they face in
performing the job and what some of the public’s proposed ideas would actually mean
for them on the back end. Even if they have rode before, that’s not something that
should be done just once or twice just to check the box. These are the people who are
in it every single day and so to not consider or take time to hear directly from them
through their own listening posts where officers can be free to really speak their mind
to staff and council in a private setting and NOT a public setting where they have to be
politically correct cause that’s what we expect of our officers would be an unfortunate
shame. I’m sure they have a pretty good insight on whats been done in the past, what’s
worked, what hasn’t, and what would be best for all parties in our own community
moving forward. I really hope this is already being done, but saying it now just in case it
isn’t.
9-Oct Iowa City needs some sort of a crisis response team comprised of mental health
professionals. This is the team that should then respond to any kind of mental health,
substance abuse, homelessness, other social issues to provide assistance and support.
Not the police! People in crisis situations such as these do not need enforcement they
need compassion and care.
9-Oct I would like to see policing restructured to reinvest a significant portion of the ICPD
budget to social services. This should be designed as a way to address the core
problems that led to social issues that are often addressed by police, such as
homelessness, substance abuse/addiction, and mental health crisis by providing
meaningful assistance and preventative measures, rather than using law enforcement
as a way to deal with the public consequences of these situations. I also support the
implementation of a crisis response system that follows the model of CAHOOTS.
9-Oct IFR strongly supports Iowa City adopting a peer-response model for non-violent calls for
emergency response. CAHOOTS is one model of this, but the broad model involves not
sending police on non violent emergency calls, but instead sending a team of a medic
along with a peer professional trained in crisis response, compassion, and resource
provision. Some models also include a licensed mental health professional in this team.
There are many types of calls that this team can respond to, including wellness checks,
mental health concerns, homelessness concerns, substance use, interpersonal conflict,
traffic/road safety problems, resource/food/shelter needs, short-term safety, and much
more. A co-responder model that pairs a police officer with other support will be firmly
rejected. This model has been denounced by local clinicians, community members,
national groups of mental health professionals such as NAMI, the American Psychiatric
Association, and many others. It has also been denounced by CIT International, the
group that our police hold up as the gold standard for crisis intervention training. Iowa
City has many local organizations that already does, or is prepared to do, crisis and rapid
response. The research and local opinion also favor this model. The only thing missing is
the political will to fund this effort. These local organizations need to be funded so they
can adequately handle the new workload, and local dispatch needs to be updated to be
able to respond to new demands that will require appropriately filtering non-violent
emergency calls to unarmed and trained crisis response teams. Since the police are
funded at approximately 50% more than the second highest funded government
department, funding must come out of their budget and into the new, emboldened
response teams, since police will no longer need to respond to these calls.
9-Oct Stop funding military-type equipment, and focusing on Pot and DWIs. Get rid of the
stealth white cruisers. Get out of cop cars and walk the beat. Get to know the
neighborhood. Require officers to live IN Iowa City.
9-Oct Mayor pro tem, we see your anti police rhetoric that you post and I’ve downloaded
your videos from the protests you deleted…..
9-Oct I picture something akin to community safety on colleges and other local spaces, where
figures are elected or appointed by an official who is elected by a neighborhood. 911
directs calls depending on the type of emergency. A social worker, crisis worker,
housing advocate or mental health professional would handle most calls. If there is a
real, necessitated use of force that the victim or caller is asking for, community armed,
elected and responsible safety agents would be trained in how to de-esculate the
conflict and hold a weapon in case of an extreme incident. There would be no police
culture or incentives to use force, violence or cite anyone unjustly for crimes that are
not violent. The hierarchical system would be deconstructed. Agents would be held
accountable for an imporper conduct. Victims of violent crime would be given resources
and constant support; including the ability to contact an organization like Common
Justice of New York City to ensure a transformative process alleviates any leftover
trauma or pain from the incident. Minor offended such as speeding and other things to
do with property can be taken care of by any trained officials; carrying guns isn't
warranted. That's the future I envision. A decentralized, local and remote force of
elected and accountable community members able to respond to only the worst calls.
Other funding would go towards what we know decreases violence in the first place:
affordable housing, healthcare and community support. That's the thing about
community: Communities take care of themselves. It is the ongoing eviction crisis and
destitute poverty that leaves people placeless and unable to look after their neighbor in
favor of their own(urgent) needs. Let communities do their own work. This doesn't
mean "police" in the way we know it; it means true democracy, decentralization, and
lots of care. Thanks for reading. For any questions or concerns, I'm contactable at:
9-Oct Would like to see ICPD’s budget reduced in order to cover the costs of a CAHOOTS style
mental health response team composed of unarmed people who have been specially
trained for this - not police. I would also like to see marijuana enforcement depriortized
and the removal of access to militarized equipment includingtear gas and rubber bullets
and MRAPS. It’s just simply not how I want my tax money spent. I’d also like to see
requirements for police to file substantial paperwork every time a weapon is charged.
I’d also like to see the road infrastructure changed to the police- itself plan to reduce
the disproportionate minority stopping.
9-Oct The PD is doing just fine. Keep the policies in place that hold officers accountable, you
don't need to reinvent the wheel. There is not "systemic racism" in policing. Icpd has
some of the most liberal and forward thinking, well trained officers in the state and
midwest. Don't let the IFR continue to bully thier way into this conversation by using a
platform that is based on LIES
9-Oct Officers, citizens, and suspects shall never be placed in danger in the name of
diversionary tactics. Iowa city has community service officers that can be trained to
increase their responsibility beyond parking calls to help meditate simple non violent
disputes. Trained social workers like the crisis intervention teams that police already
use, could be closer integrated within the department to decrease response times to
mental health crisis issues. If there is any question of scene safety, officers need to
continue to respond. Officer foot patrols of the neighborhoods they work in should be
encouraged whenever possible with a focus on community engagement.
9-Oct The city of Iowa City (excluding the PD) have let the IFR and the BLM movement destroy
the city. The taxpayers are responsible for paying over $1,000,000 in damage because of
coward city officials. I pray every night for the police officers in the Iowa City area,
including the surrounding communities. Nearly all of the city leaders offer no support to
these fine men and women. Turn Iowa city around. It’s quickly turned into the armpit of
Iowa. It’s the city where I will never raise my family in. Bring police into the schools.
Build rapport with the students of different ethnic groups. Get a school resource officer.
Get an explorer program. Most of all, give the police more resources to reach out into
the community. Instead of “defunding the police”, increase their funds for more training
to build relationships within the community.
9-Oct ICPD and UIPD do a fantastic job as is, I encourage them to continue with their
compassion, professionalism, and diligence in pursuing public safety. My family came to
this country for the kind of safety, opportunity, and community that I see here in Iowa
City and the surrounding towns that make up this community. Law enforcement
included. The answer doesn’t lie in police reform in Johnson county but in resources
from the state for mental health.
9-Oct Stop being soft and let the police do their job.
9-Oct Iowa City needs to stand up to the bully tactics of BLM. They are a terrorist group who
incite riots and intimidate government and its citizens. The police enforce the laws put
in place by elected officials. Period. Do not cave their demands. Enforce the laws!
10-Oct On a simple level, having more officers walking the streets, unarmed, would help
deescalate the threat ICPD has posed to the citizenry both in terms of optics and
functionally. Would also help enforce the mask ordinance that so many are ignoring
openly, in public, with no repercussions. Like the majority of the protesters in town, I
support the CAHOOTS style crisis response system, which functions similarly to crisis
response in the European countries progressives often look to for more stable, people-
prioritizing government. I would like to see the majority of officers given the
opportunity to train for. and work in non-confrontational public service positions; such
as assisting therapeutic and psychiatric public servants in mobile and office settings. If
"policing" is to be accepted as a public program as much as the current desire for
abolition and anew self-defense force, then "policing" must be redefined as a resource,
and not an authority. The growing public protests are demanding a change in power
dynamics on a fundamental level, and that requires fundamental changes, such as
power in the Community Police Review Board to not only hold officers accountable, but
institute changes in how the police department operates. It is currently operated
similarly to a private business, with top-down hierarchical power, and citizens only
having a say indirectly via elections.
10-Oct I believe reform is needed in order to address the response to non-violent crises across
Iowa City. I believe we need a response team trained in de-escalation in order to
protect the community and at-risk individuals, primarily people of color, who are
targeted by implicit racial bias among police officers. I also believe that police officers
must undergo significant re-training and evaluation to filter out those with such implicit
bias and whose presence and actions escalate a scenario to violence rather than de-
escalate. I believe that a community-centered approach is the best way to move
forward in service to the community while protecting people of color from implicit bias
in policing.
10-Oct The city already implements community policing. I have personally seen positive police
interactions with the public at numerous community events. What I would really like is
to be able to take my family downtown without seeing the “f” word all over buildings
and calling for the killing of police officers. I have also heard the city Officials have told
law enforcement to stand down in regards to enforcement of this kind of activity. This is
really a shame. As a long time member of the community, it is really sad what this city is
starting to become. I would personally like to see it be mandated for city counsel
members and elected city government leaders have to complete a ride along shift a
month with ICPD. Maybe this would help determine if social workers or other options
could handle certain situations. Thank you for your time.
10-Oct No guns. I'm serious. The majority of police interactions do not require the use of guns,
and the presence of a lethally-armed officers needlessly escalates the majority of these
non-violent interactions. Even as a white person, I'm terrified of the people who are
supposed to protect the community because they all carry deadly weapons. Now
imagine how our black citizens feel when they see an armed officer, after they've
watched video after video of people of color being gunned down by officers. You can
keep your tazers, you can keep your batons, but you should leave your guns in the
squad car or at the station. If you're responding to an event you know is lethally violent,
then sure, bring your gun. But routine traffic stops? Community patrols? Non-violent
drug offenses? You don't need a gun, and if things do escalate you'll still have your
tazer, melee weapons, police training, and backup. Simply taking guns out of the
equation would go a long way to improve our community's trust of the police.
10-Oct I think the Iowa City Police did a great job before all this and would have probably liked
to do even more. I appreciated getting to know the officers when they were able to do
foot patrols down on Taylor Dr. ICPD regularly attended events and meetings put on by
the S.E. Neighborhood association. They even held annual spring events with the youth
at the R.E.C centers. People are quick to forget all the good they’ve done and focus on
the bad several states away. I encourage more activities like those they’ve done in the
past. I look forward to meeting some of the new officers.
10-Oct The Iowa city police department already does an oustanding job of bridging the gap
between the police and the public. They deserve more funding, not less.
10-Oct I support the demands of the Iowa Freedom Riders to divest a large chunk of the ICPD's
budget away to social services that will help the community more than policing has. It
makes more sense to empower those who are trained to deal with mental illness,
poverty, and other social issues than it does to pay for more gunds and boots on the
ground.
10-Oct Black Lives Matter is a domestic terrorist group, along with ANTIFA, is destroying our
communities and causing animosity among all groups. Instead of focusing on how to
improve community policing, focus on how city government can grow a backbone and
deal with the real problem and get rid of these terrorists.
10-Oct I support the demands of the Iowa Freedom Riders to divest a large chunk of the ICPD's
budget away to social services and to institute a CAHOOTS style response program.
10-Oct Invest in social workers to respond to most calls. Please save police response for
instances where it is really needed. No chemical weapons! No rubber bullets! No
shooting ANYONE who is not actively in the process of trying to kill someone and then
only as an absolute last resort if the area cannot be safely cleared. No
intimidation/violence/arresting protesters! PLEASE listen to the demands of the Iowa
Freedom Riders and BLM activists.
10-Oct I would like to see rational discussion about all issues not bullying that causes fear of a
real discussion because those who disagree will be called racist.
11-Oct I support IFR because I support Black lives in my community. IFR strongly supports Iowa
City adopting a peer-response model for non-violent calls for emergency response.
CAHOOTS is one model of this, but the broad model involves not sending police on non
violent emergency calls, but instead sending a team of a medic along with a peer
professional trained in crisis response, compassion, and resource provision. Some
models also include a licensed mental health professional in this team. There are many
types of calls that this team can respond to, including wellness checks, mental health
concerns, homelessness concerns, substance use, interpersonal conflict, traffic/road
safety problems, resource/food/shelter needs, short-term safety, and much more. A co-
responder model that pairs a police officer with other support will be firmly rejected.
This model has been denounced by local clinicians, community members, national
groups of mental health professionals such as NAMI, the American Psychiatric
Association, and many others. It has also been denounced by CIT International, the
group that our police hold up as the gold standard for crisis intervention training. Iowa
City has many local organizations that already does, or is prepared to do, crisis and rapid
response. The research and local opinion also favor this model. The only thing missing is
the political will to fund this effort. These local organizations need to be funded so they
can adequately handle the new workload, and local dispatch needs to be updated to be
able to respond to new demands that will require appropriately filtering non-violent
emergency calls to unarmed and trained crisis response teams. Since the police are
funded at approximately 50% more than the second highest funded government
department, funding must come out of their budget and into the new, emboldened
response teams, since police will no longer need to respond to these calls.
11-Oct Don't change a thing. They are doing a great job.
13-Oct I would like police officers to be reserved for dangerous criminal scenarios- not for
mental health, substance use, homelessness, or traffic/vehicle maintenance issues. I
would like to see response teams created for those situations that involve appropriately
trained professionals with a problem-solving and helping focus rather than a punitive
one. Police officers should not be a part of these teams. Cahoots is a good example. I
would like to see funding redirected from the police department and towards setting up
these programs, working with existing agencies such as Community Crisis Center, DVIP,
Shelter House, and Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition.
14-Oct Dramatically decrease budget for police and instead spend those funds on expanding
social safety nets and programs such as after school activities, homelessness assistance,
and free public access spaces. Instead of dispatching police to mental health crises or
homelessness calls, send social workers and others trained in handling these issues.
Expand access to essentials such as internet, clean water, shelter, and hot meals.
Dismantle the new downtown "anti-homeless" architecture benches.
14-Oct Hello, thanks for providing this submission form since I could not make it to any of the
in person events! I think our goal should be to funnel funding away from the police
department and into social services that operate independently from the police. It is
imperative that the new systems send independent peer-based crisis responders
without a police escort to non-violent situations. CIT, Crisis Intervention Training, is also
against sending police alongside peer crisis responders. This will relieve the police
department of their currently unwieldy burden and conflicting roles of enforcing laws
and while attempting to urge people to get the help they need. This restructuring will
also give ICPD more time/capacity to focus on investigations rather than patrolling the
streets, as they will not be called on as much as before. Main priorities for reinvesting
would be public affordable housing, public transit, mental health and substance abuse
services, education, immigrant and refugee support, and other holistic supports for the
low-income and working class people of Iowa City. A good place to start would be to get
the ICPD budget back to where it was in 2011. I think IFR also pointed out that ICPD
receives 50% more funding than the next highest funded government department. I'd
also like to see the ICPD give up it's military grade equipment, including tear gas, as tear
gas has been outlawed in the Geneva Convention. Overall, I can say that I have read the
Iowa Freedom Rider's Phase 1 plan for how community wellness and accountability
should look in the future and I support what they have proposed. Their proposal is
similar to the CAHOOTS system, which I believe is used in Oregon. I know currently the
city is also working with them on a Truth and Reconciliation Committee, which must
have power to make systemic, reparative changes, or else it will not be able to work
towards reconciliation at all. I think it is interesting that this form asks for race, but no
other identifiers, though queer people, trans people, working class people, and folks
with disabilities are also disproportionately affected by over-policing. I certainly have
much privilege as a white, able-bodied person, but as a non-binary and working class
person, I have solidarity with Black, Indigenous, and disabled folks on this issue.
Thank you for continuing to investigate the events of June 3rd, and for delaying the
purchase of new tasers, I have high hopes for what you can do next.