The Bias-free Columbia Coalition has plans to bring in speakers from the Islamic Center and the Hispanic community to speak about how federal immigration policies affect policing.
In the coalition’s Tuesday night meeting, the group continued to focus on reducing racial bias in the Columbia Police Department and set an agenda for upcoming public events.
The next public meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 29 at City Hall, said Don Love, chairman of Missouri Association for Social Welfare of the Human Rights Task Force.
The meeting will invite the Islamic Center and Roxana Gomero, a representative of the Hispanic community, to introduce Muslim immigrants and Latino immigrants to United States culture. They will talk about problems raised by federal immigration policies and legislation issues. The public meeting will be sponsored by the coalition and Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services.
Love said the presentation aims to provide opportunities for Muslims, Latino immigrants, police officers and the public to build community-wide trust and understanding.
The coalition is made up of groups including CoMo Citizens, American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri and the Columbia Police Department.
The coalition is also seeking opportunities to work with Columbia Public Schools, Love said.
Michelle Baumstark of the World Cafe and Superintendent Chris Belcher will be enlisted to the coalition, and an educational video called “10 Rules for Dealing with the Police” will be shown to students and school board members.
The coalition also reviewed the presentation of CPD’s data analyst Jerry East on Oct. 11.
According to Deputy Police Chief Stephen Monticelli, the police department is collecting more information. He said the department is contacting people who have been previously arrested to study if the arrests were conducted fairly.
“We have 9,000 arrests each year,” Monticelli said. “We can’t talk to them all. So, we are now talking to professors who have done this kind of research before.”
Monticelli said one of the experts is the head of the Criminal Justice Department at Columbia College.
City Manager Mike Matthes requested the experiment five months ago. The experiment, which cost about $300,000, was funded through a federal grant, Monticelli said.
The coalition will invite Kansas City officers Jack Colwell and Chip Huth to the public meeting Dec. 7 at City Hall. The two officers will talk about their experience in officer training and racial bias. They will also hold an officer training at the Columbia Police Regional Training Center.
The coalition said it believed all officers at the police department should participate in the training. About 35 officers are expected to attend the meeting, CPD Chief Ken Burton said.
