(City of Iowa City news release)
On Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, the City of Iowa City released a preliminary plan to restructure the Police Department towards community policing. The full preliminary plan is available on the City’s website at www.icgov.org/preliminaryplan.
The document includes a statistical overview of the Iowa City Police Department, background on recent community policing initiatives, and 36 recommendations to address public health, community safety, and systemic racism in Iowa City.
The 36 recommendations reflect three areas of focus: (1) a continuum of responses to crisis calls for service including prevention, diversion, co-response, and stabilization and referrals; (2) a commitment to unbiased policing; and (3) an effort to use unconventional and innovative solutions for common problems.
The community is encouraged to provide additional input on the preliminary plan, to be incorporated into the final plan. Residents can take a survey on the recommendations online or e-mail suggestions to PolicePlan@iowa-city.org.
Extensive public input was collected prior to the development of the preliminary plan, including six listening posts on community policing held throughout the City. The preliminary plan comes after City Council adopted a 17-point resolution to address the Black Lives Matter movement and systemic racism in June 2020. This resolution included a commitment to develop a preliminary plan by December 15, 2020.
The public can view progress on other commitments and the full resolution at www.icgov.org/blm.