By WMBD-TV
BLOOMINGTON – At a Public Safety and Community Relations Board meeting Wednesday evening, heads of local police departments were asked questions about certain procedures, with a focus on transparency.
This comes in the wake of Sonya Massey’s death, the reason why the special meeting occurred.
Bloomington and Normal’s police chiefs, along with the McLean County Sheriff and Illinois State University’s police chief, answered questions from the public. The meeting took place at the Bloomington Public Library.
The main question had to do with hiring procedures, as many claimed that Sangamon County Deputy Sean Grayson, the man charged with killing Massey, had a checkered past and thus should not have been a police officer in the first place.
Each police leader laid out different types of vetting processes, such as asking previous employers about the candidates’ past behavior as well as asking direct questions about prejudices in interviews.
People also asked about each department’s commitment to diversity, as well as how embedded the departments are in the communities they serve.
Each had their own answer, with all of them saying that their departments have made strides in hiring more non-white and female officers.
Normal Police Chief Steve Petrilli echoed the same thoughts but added that hiring police officers has become difficult.
In terms of community outreach, each department said that they try to go to community events and speak to those they serve.
Before the meeting, both the president and vice president of the Bloomington-Normal NAACP spoke about what they wanted to see from the meeting.
President Linda Foster said Massey’s death is indicative of the unequal balance of power between police departments and the communities they serve.
“There’s a pattern here that it seems as though that black people, male and female, don’t survive to tell their side of the story,” she said.
At the meeting, she credited the police officers for answering questions, but she said there must be more than “training” to deal with the issue.
Vice President Carla Campbell-Jackson said it’s important to recognize the ten shared principles, that outline how valuable human life is. Because of that, it’s important to address these issues with law enforcement.
“There needs to be that continuous renewal so that our law enforcement agencies understand the type of people that we want out there serving our community. We need to be courageous enough to address those who maybe aren’t quite suited for that particular role because the life of others is something precious,” she said.
Foster said another training for the ten shared principles will take place in October for local police departments.
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