Elgin seeking applicants for community task force on policing
The City of Elgin is seeking community members to serve on the new community task force on policing. Applications are available at cityofelgin.org/taskforceapp now through July 9.
The Elgin City Council will select and appoint task force members. The task force will begin meeting in September and a final report of task force recommendations is anticipated in March 2022.
With the assistance of facilitators, the community task force on policing will review the policies, procedures, and practices the Elgin Police Department employs to determine how the department can most effectively and equitably deliver law enforcement services to all members of the community.
The city intends to undertake a process that openly and objectively examines the means and methods the police department employs to support and sustain a safe and inclusive community and explores how those means and methods are perceived by the community. The task force's ultimate objective is to make recommendations for viable solutions to enhance the department's service to and relationship with Elgin's residents, visitors, businesses and institutions.
"I encourage anyone interested in bettering our community to apply to serve on this task force," said Mayor David Kaptain. "The work of this task force is very important, and we need to make sure recommendations are made that are truly representative of our diverse community."
Anyone who lives in Elgin is eligible to serve on this task force. The city is seeking a broad and diverse cross-section of perspectives on the issues facing the Elgin community for the task force. The city intends for the task force members to reflect the community's diversity, in terms of race and ethnicity, socioeconomic levels, professional background and geography.
Applicants should provide examples of community/civic involvement, as well as experience and past performance on efforts of similar size, scope and complexity. Any questions about the application can be directed to policingtaskforce@cityofelgin.org.
Task force members will need to attend one to two hour meetings every other week for the first phase of work. That frequency of meetings may become less or more frequent over the course of the task force's time of service. It is also anticipated that task force members will be asked to review information in between meetings to prepare most effectively for their deliberations. Details on the task force's scope of work can be found at cityofelgin.org/taskforce.
The Elgin City Council approved the creation of a community task force on policing in June 2020. Councilmembers Tish Powell and Toby Shaw, liaisons to the yet-to-be-created task force, worked with the City Manager Rick Kozal and Police Chief Ana Lalley to identify a facilitator that will assist in creating and managing the task force. Kearns & West, a facilitation and strategic communications firm, was selected to facilitate task force meetings, in partnership with the University of Illinois at Chicago.