\n\tCity officials will seek suggestions from the community on how to repair a strained relationship between the city’s residents and its police force, said Joan Walls, assistant to the city manager for community relations.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe forum’s organizers are targeting several groups of people, Kyles said, including minorities and youths.<\/p>\n
\n\tBill Glithero, a member of the city’s human relations commission, said he hopes that about half the forum’s attendees are of a minority race, and about a quarter of them are youths.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe city has made room at the Hawthorn Suites hotel, 101 Trade Center Drive, C, for about 250 attendees, and officials are requiring pre-registration by March 10. Glithero said he hopes that about 200 residents will attend.<\/p>\n
\n\t“We’re targeting a lot of people,” Walls said. “And they’re going to be working together in small workout groups that will answer questions.”<\/p>\n
\n\tThose “pre-identified” questions will be finalized by a city committee before the forum. The topics will be posed to the attendees in small groups moderated by city officials.<\/p>\n
\n\t“Essentially what the questions are asking: How can the community and the police department work together basically for the betterment of the community?” Kyles said.<\/p>\n
\n\t“They are going to be questions that will just get to the point,” Walls said.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe forum’s moderators will submit a written report to Carter following the forum, and that report also will be shared with the attendees, Walls said.<\/p>\n
\n\tKyles said he hopes the discussion does not end at the conclusion of the forum.<\/p>\n
\n\t“I think that really, realistically, what I’d like to see from the forum is kind of sub-groups coming out of the forum and people willing to head each individual mission,” Kyles said.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe forum is one of six goals Carter presented following Mr. Carrington’s death that he hopes will help the city move forward.<\/p>\n
\n\tMr. Carrington was shot when Norbits and Police Chief R.T. Finney responded to a report of a burglary at a 906 W. Vine St. home. According to reports, Norbits became involved in a physical struggle with Mr. Carrington when Norbits’ gun fired.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt was later discovered that Mr. Carrington sometimes had been staying at the home with a friend.<\/p>\n
\n\tWalls said city officials are continuing to accomplish the initiatives and are trying to “get really creative so citizens can check in and see how we’re progressing.”<\/p>\n
\n\tThe March 15 forum is the only discussion currently scheduled, but Walls said the police department and the Champaign Community and Police Partnership will be scheduling similar meetings in the future.<\/p>\n
\n\tAn internal investigation reviewing the department’s policies and procedures remains ongoing. Norbits has not returned to street duty, but has been assigned to administrative duties in the station.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tMeeting set<\/p>\n
\n\tWHAT: Community forum to discuss relationship between Champaign police and residents<\/p>\n
\n\tWHEN: March 15, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
\n\tWHERE: Hawthorn Suites, 101 Trade Center Drive, C.<\/p>\n
\n\tSpace is limited, and organizers are asking attendees to register before March 10. To register, contact the city’s Community Relations Office at (217) 403-8830.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services<\/a><\/p>\n CHAMPAIGN \u2013 How to break down barriers between the community and the police department will be the primary discussion topic during a March 15 community forum, scheduled more than five months after the police shooting death of 15-year-old Kiwane Carrington. The forum will check off another of City Manager Steve Carter’s six initiatives he presented […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-353239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/img><\/a>
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