By Andrew Fefer, Reporter/Editor
Local law enforcement agencies have varied approaches when it comes to improving race relations between police and the broader community in the Chippewa Valley.
During a recent talk in Eau Claire, Madison Police Department officer Corey Saffold said that positive encounters between police and the public are often not reported. He added that social media users and news organizations are to blame, and that negativity and public mistrust of police agencies are created as a result.
He also noted that his department is trying to help by training its officers to act without regard to their biases, putting officers on repeated patrol assignments in the same neighborhoods and utilizing a community outreach team.
The CVPost followed up by contacting police departments in Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls and Altoona to learn how law enforcement in these three communities views such topics as relations between the police and minority communities and the more general issue of police-community relations.
Eau Claire Police Department Deputy Chief Matt Rokus did not attend Saffold’s presentation, but said in a recent interview that the Eau Claire department is always trying to be proactive when it comes to new trends, both in policing or the changing dynamic of the area.
“We’re doing almost all of the things that …are mentioned in that (CV Post) article,” he said.
“First name basis” needed
In an interview following his Mar. 7 talk at the L. E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, Saffold noted that Madison’s training includes both new recruits and in-service training for officers. He suggested that community members could become involved in “scenario-based training” that would benefit both the police department and the public’s understanding of police work.
He added that the ideal outcome is for a community to “get to know your police on a first-name basis,” a point that Rokus echoed.
Rokus said that you cannot over-emphasize the importance of a strong relationship between the community and its police department. He described police as members of the community, and the department as a whole as a community partner. Every patrol officer in the department is assigned to a specific neighborhood, and detectives are assigned to neighborhoods as well. Rokus added that Eau Claire officers attend hundreds of neighborhood meetings and community events every year.
“Community involvement is a responsibility of every one of our officers at the Eau Claire Police Department. It’s not limited to a specialized unit or section of the department,” he said.
The department also partners with the Eau Claire Area School District, and assigns officers to be present in what Rokus called “a school setting” as school resource officers.
“They’re establishing meaningful relationships with students, families and staff,” he said.
Rokus also noted that a “considerable” amount of relationship-building and dialogue with the community is happening on social media. The department maintains both Facebook and Twitter accounts, and Rokus said the department’s “strong” presence on social media creates another platform for interaction with the community.
Implicit bias training
Nearly 10 years ago, all of the Eau Claire department’s lieutenants, deputy chiefs and the chief of police attended a week-long, advanced training course in implicit biases and strategies in dealing with them. Rokus said it was not in response to anything that happened locally, but rather, a “best practice in policing.”
Rokus described the concept of implicit bias as the biases people have, based on past experience and upbringing, that they do not have control over.
“We brought that back to our department in in-service training, where every tenured officer attended training on the topic,” Rokus said. “And then every time we hire a new police officer, they also attend that training.”
He said that the first step in addressing implicit bias issues is recognizing that you have them and learning how to react to each individual situation.
“There’s a lot of science behind it, as far as studies that…have occurred, whether it be with law enforcement or general members of the public,” Rokus added.
“It’s a proactive step or proactive stance that we’ve taken on as a department.”
Rokus added that it’s become who the department is as an organization, as it leads to a deeper understanding of “who we are” as a community.
Altoona’s approach
In the city of Altoona, Police Chief Jesse James said he has not considered a program to teach or reinforce a message about race relations to officers there.
“I don’t feel it’s an issue within our agency,” he said. “We don’t have very many contacts with African-Americans, Asians. There’s more Hispanic contacts than anything as far as Altoona goes.
“We have more issues with the white male subjects than we do with anybody else.”
The Altoona city website lists its 2015 population as 7,200 and shows Eau Claire’s population as 61,704, which is more than eight times the size of Altoona.
Like Eau Claire, James mentioned that Altoona officers attend training sessions to help officers interact appropriately with all people in the city. He said that the sessions are typically offered yearly, but he’s noticed that they have become available more often recently.
“It addresses racial issues, it addresses the LGBTQ, all that,” he said. “The whole big picture, per se.”
James considers the idea of a department program on the subject “more of a reactive measure.” He said that he has not been made aware of any prejudices in the agency toward any race since he became chief, and doesn’t recall any internal investigations with any officers in the department involving “inappropriate prejudices” in his 15 years of service in Altoona. He believes the reason for that outcome is the way the officers do their job.
“Being a smaller community…we have more of a personal relationship with the community than we do with a particular race,” James said.
Chippewa Falls: an emphasis on community relations
Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matt Kelm said he also has not fielded any complaints from the public about how his officers have been engaging with all members their community. He said his department‘s approach is to treat everyone with dignity and respect, no matter what their background.
“In the academy, the officers have professional communications training that may touch on that (training on dealing with minority populations), and we also have had in-house professional communications training,” Kelm said.
“So far, that’s been very successful. Our officers have de-escalated many, many situations out there verbally, that’s how we…end up handling almost every call that we go to, just because our officers stay professional and they treat everybody right. Typically, they get the same response from the public.”
Chippewa Falls officers are evaluated quarterly on all aspects of their job, including communications and community relations. Kelm said any problems that come from those evaluations are “addressed in a timely fashion” so that the department is able to stay on top of those issues. He also said the department typically sends officers to specialized training when it is offered and when the department has adequate staffing to allow officers to participate.
Kelm said the department’s policy also covers community relations, and is reviewed “periodically” with officers. He said that he would consider a proactive approach to improve community relations “as the training was offered.” Kelm said the department currently has 23 officers, while nearly 14,000 people currently live in the city.
“I guess I would look for things that would address the needs we’re facing in Chippewa Falls right now,” Kelm added, “and that’s what we do with all training.”
“There’s only the certain amount of training time and staffing time that we have, so we have to make sure we make those choices.”
Community partnership
The departments’ philosophy of partnering with the community is also dependent on the rest of the people who live in or visit the cities. All three departments maintain multiple social media pages and appear at community events in an effort to strengthen ties between the officers and the public.
“On the job, when you do this, it doesn’t matter what race you are and it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female,” James said. “Your guard’s always up in today’s society.”
“When we have the trust of the public, and they have our trust, that’s when we’re most effective,” Kelm added, noting that he believes the work his department has done to establish communications avenues and trust with the community has paid off, but there are always ways to improve.
“Crime prevention and the quality of life in our community is not a spectator sport. It requires the engagement and involvement of every community member,” Rokus said.
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