It has been 15 years since local community leaders from minority groups united with law enforcement to create the Minority and Police Partnership (MAPP). Their annual Educational Law Enforcement Summit will be from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, at Illinois State University’s Horton Field House.
The summit is intended as an opportunity for the community to more fully understand the roles of police officers. It will offer a variety of activities including a firearms training simulator, crime scene demonstration, and a Taser demonstration. The event is free and open to the public.
MAPP was created when members of the Bloomington-Normal NAACP and local law enforcement officials met to discuss several issues of common interest, such as concerns about racial profiling, the reasons behind certain policing procedures, and how community members perceive police actions.
“The partnership is about having conversations and keeping an open line of communication between minority community members and law enforcement,” said Illinois State University Police Chief Aaron Woodruff. Linda Foster, who is retired from Illinois State University and is a co-facilitator of MAPP representing the NAACP added, “This organization allows community members to ask questions that are affecting them globally, as a whole.”
The group meets every two months to discuss issues that concern the community. “When we see issues we are facing nationally, having this organization is helpful because we can have honest discussions since good relationships have been built,” said Woodruff.
John Elliott, representing the NAACP, has been a member of MAPP since its inception in 2001. He added that if a community member has concerns, they can come to a meeting and get more information. “But a caution to the community is that if you have a complaint about an agency, you contact that agency first,” said Elliott.
Woodruff explained that when someone from the community brings a concern to a MAPP member’s attention, the MAPP member can ask the right questions. “We ask, ‘Are you aware the police have ways in which to investigate these allegations?’ or ‘Have you filed a complaint?’” said Woodruff. “And then we can walk them through the complaint process.”
Woodruff gave an example of a concern people have raised about having three officers on the scene of a traffic stop. The perception is that may seem like a lot, Woodruff said, but there might be a simple explanation as to why there are three officers. “One officer is the primary officer that stopped you and they happened to have a trainee officer with them,” he said. “And then we are trained that a trainee doesn’t count as an officer, and there has to be a second officer backing up the first officer–which would make three officers.”
An agenda item at every MAPP meeting is a Taser report. “When Tasers were first being implemented in law enforcement, there were a lot of questions about how they were going to be used, who they were going to be used on, what statistics would look like, and what the impact would be,” said Woodruff. “Part of the concern was if Tasers would be used on minorities more than others.” Foster added that the Taser reports allow for more transparency on their use by law enforcement.
Community leaders who attend the MAPP meetings are able to share the information they learn with the public. Rick Bleichner, chief for the Normal Police Department noted that a strength of the group is having constituents sitting at the table that go back and share with other community members.
“I certainly see the value in MAPP and I’m thankful we have community leaders that had the foresight to have these discussions,” said Woodruff. “My hope is, that if an issue does arise, we can mitigate it and try to address it ahead of time before it becomes a much larger issue.”
