Screen Reader Mode Icon
To view the complete plan, visit our website at www.icgov.org/PreliminaryPlan. If you would like to submit your comments without participating in the survey, you can send them directly by email to PolicePlan@iowa-city.org
Continuum of Responses to Crisis Calls

Please select yes or no to indicate your support for the following statements. You may also provide follow-up information in the text box to explain your choice.

Question Title

* 1. Pursue a Local Option Sales Tax that would in part bolster the annual Aid to Agencies grant program and provide additional flexibility for strategic one-time investments in our non-profit community

Question Title

* 2. Partner with the Shelter House to jointly fund a new Street Outreach and Engagement Specialist, to be employed by the Shelter House and that would work in close cooperation with the Iowa City Police Department, to proactively connect individuals to services and prevent police calls for service generated by the public.

Question Title

* 3. Create a half-time permanent civilian Community Outreach Assistant position that focuses solely on outreach and engagement with Iowa City’s growing immigrant and refugee population

Question Title

* 4. The City should take an active role in marketing local crisis services to the public including the 24/7/365 Mobile Crisis unit with the aim to increase the diversion of calls away from the Police Department to trained mental health counselors.

Question Title

* 5. Following in the path of the Cross Park Place and GuideLink projects, the Iowa City Police Department should work cooperatively with CommUnity and other local governments in 2021 to take a data driven justice approach to planning for expansion of the existing Mobile Crisis service.

Question Title

* 6. The City should convene stakeholders from the mental health region, CommUnity Mobile Crisis team, and Joint Emergency Communication Center staff and board to discuss integration of Mobile Crisis services into the 911 dispatch process.

Question Title

* 7. The Police Department should conduct a comprehensive, data-driven review of the civilian Community Service Officer position and determine if those civilian positions can safely divert duties from sworn staff.

Question Title

* 8. The City Council should determine if they wish to revisit the concept of automated traffic enforcement. If the technology is something the City Council wants to explore, direction should be provided to staff on what information is desired to make an informed decision.

Question Title

* 9. The City Council and Iowa City Police Department should join Foundation 2 and CommUnity Crisis Services in developing and implementing a co-response team that pairs a specially trained Police Officer with a CommUnity Mobile Crisis mental health professional. The program will be funded in partnership with the East Central Mental Health Region and will include a new Police Officer specialty position that will be accommodated through a reduction in one Sergeant position.

Question Title

* 10. The Iowa City Police Department should continue to ensure that all Officers receive initial Crisis Intervention Training and subsequent continuing education in de-escalation techniques. The Department shall continue to encourage personnel to obtain CIT instructor certification.

Question Title

* 11. The Iowa City Police Department should partner with the Iowa Department of Public Health to begin carrying Narcan to better assist those experiencing an opioid overdose when no medical professional is on scene to assume such care.

Question Title

* 12. The Iowa City Police Department should move forward with implementation of the Coordinate Assess Respond Engage (CARE) reporting tool to better inform Officer response and training, as well as to increase efforts to expand and automate referrals to local service providers.

Question Title

* 13. The Police Chief should designate a command staff team to analyze the Department’s usage of the GuideLink Center and to actively participate in ongoing intergovernmental evaluation and planning efforts to explore how the facility can best meet the changing needs of our community.

Question Title

* 14. The Victim Services Coordinator should engage in regular meetings with local service providers for the purpose of continually evaluating how the Iowa City Police Department can best utilize the professionals in those organizations to support victims experiencing trauma and crisis.

Commitment to Unbiased Policing

Question Title

* 15. The Iowa City Police Department should conduct a comprehensive review of its Field Training program for Probationary Officers and partner with the community to expand training on the history of policing, past and ongoing disproportionate impacts on minority communities, steps Officers can take in their daily duties to be unbiased and anti-racist, crisis intervention, de-escalation, and awareness of existing prevention and diversion resources in the community.

Question Title

* 16. The Police Department should actively pursue the Georgetown Innovative Policing Program’s Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) training with the goal of preparing Officers to intervene to prevent harm and create a culture of peer intervention.

Question Title

* 17. Community-led training opportunities should become an increased focus for the Department, especially on the topic of race. The Department should actively pursue several community-led trainings in partnership with groups such as Black Voices Project, NAACP, Immigrant and Refugee Association, University of Iowa Student Government and University of Iowa Athletics.

Question Title

* 18. Iowa City should consider a civilian Accreditation Manager position that could bring a non-law enforcement perspective to police policy development and compliance review efforts.

Question Title

* 19. The Police Department should strive to update each of the 36 General Orders scheduled for review in 2021 with a racial impact lens, make necessary policy changes to eliminate racial inequities in resulting outcomes, and incorporate the inclusion of a Racial Impact Statement into the review process beginning in 2021 and for all General Order reviews moving forward.

Question Title

* 20. The City Council should adopt the Unbiased Policing Ordinance and the City should actively advocate alongside the NAACP and other advocates for similar language to be adopted into State law.

Question Title

* 21. The Police Department shall make permanent the prohibition on indiscriminate license plate checking and initiation of traffic stops based on non-public safety secondary violations after any modifications are considered after the initial 60-day review period.

Question Title

* 22. A public safety camera usage policy shall be developed before the installation of previously approved cameras and should focus on investigations of serious crimes and not surveillance activity.

Question Title

* 23. The Police Department should renew its commitment to the Community Police Review Board through regular Police Chief updates, staff introductions, frequent policy reviews, enhanced Use of Force reporting, Body Cam compliance reporting and a more extensive new board member orientation and internal investigation training.

Question Title

* 24. The Police Department should assign a liaison to the Human Rights Commission and actively participate in their community education, recognition and outreach events in order to build more understanding and connections with diverse populations in the community.

Question Title

* 25. City staff should work with our State elected delegation, contracted lobbyist and partners such as the NAACP to pursue meaningful changes to the criminal justice system that align with the City Council’s adopted 2021 legislative priorities.

Question Title

* 26. The City should work with its legislative delegation and professional associations and stakeholder groups to introduce legislation at the State level that would explicitly prohibit race-based calls to law enforcement when there is no emergency or criminal activity and initiate a public service campaign to build awareness of this phenomenon and eliminate race-based calls.

Question Title

* 27. The City Council should consider conversations with other local elected officials to gauge interest in the formation of a regional Community Police Review Board that can replace those already in place or under consideration in individual municipalities within Johnson County.

Policing Forward

Question Title

* 28. The City should explore the creation of a local public safety apprenticeship program to bolster efforts to increase the number and diversity of applicants for a variety of public safety positions including police officer, firefighter, and some public works positions. The program would pay a stipend to participants, who would learn critical skills and perform limited duties and community service.

Question Title

* 29. The City should implement written and physical testing support programs that minimize barriers to successful testing and increase the number and diversity of candidates eligible for hire by the Department.

Question Title

* 30. The City should seek partnerships with EMDR certified professionals and cover the expense for initial Officer consultations in order to reduce barriers to this service and ensure Officers have needed resources to process distressing memories and perform at the best of their abilities

Question Title

* 31. The City should explore a pilot program that requires Officers to spend a portion of shift time volunteering with an Iowa City based non-profit or working toward a community service project.

Question Title

* 32. A Public Safety Communications Professional position should be created in the City Manager’s Office to focus on improving transparency, responsiveness and proactive messaging with the community.

Question Title

* 33. With the adoption of the Final Plan, the City should commence an overhaul of the Police Department’s website content and ensure it provides clear, transparent information about policing operations and reports on progress towards its mission and the various recommendations in the plan.

Question Title

* 34. The Iowa City Police Department should participate in the Police Data Initiative and other similar public data portals that aim to enhance understanding of public safety data, increase accountability and innovate through the sharing of best practices.

Question Title

* 35. Beginning in 2021, The Police Department should begin quarterly town hall style listening posts with the public in alternating locations throughout the community.

Question Title

* 36. Reconvene the City Manager’s Roundtable in 2021 and initiate a review of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights 2019 report entitled, “New Era of Public Safety, A Guide to Fair, Safe and Effective Community Policing.”

0 of 36 answered
 

T