What is Bloomington CAPS?

The Bloomington Indiana Community Advisory on Public Safety or CAPS was started in 2019 through collaboration between community members and the Bloomington Police Department in response to rising tensions between community and police as well as concerns about general public safety in Bloomington.

In July 2019 after a series of meetings and discussions where community members raised many public safety concerns the Bloomington City Council passed a resolution that officially created CAPS as a part of the Bloomington city government.

According to the Bloomington, Indiana government website the main goal of the Community Advisory on Public Safety commission is to “…increase the safety of all Bloomington community members, especially those often marginalized due to race, disability, gender, sexual identity, or sexual orientation.

Since it’s inception, CAPS has played an important role in promoting community-police collaboration, enhancing transparency, and improving public safety in Bloomington. Through its various programs and initiatives CAPS has works to provide research-based alternatives to traditional policing, identify best practices in public safety globally, and evaluate the implementation of such practices in Bloomington. Overall CAPS has worked to foster positive relationships between law enforcement officials and community members, build trust, and promote accountability.

Attending a CAPS Meeting

I was fortunate to be able to sit in on the CAPS – Alternative Public Safety Outreach Special Committee Meeting on Friday March 24th from 3-5pm. This meeting was called by board members to come together and plan their upcoming community outreach event as well as engage ideas on how to better increase community outreach and engagement.

The meeting was held both in-person and on zoom for community members to attend and observe as well as provide potential input and feedback into the meeting discussion. In total there were four committee members attending the meeting in-person and one committee member joining via zoom, as well as myself and then 3-5 other community members that joined the zoom meeting. In total the meeting was 10 people with half being CAPS commission members and the other half (including me) being community members.

There were some technical difficulties joining the meeting as I waited on zoom for twenty five minutes for the committee members to setup the Owl Camera for the online attendees. The Owl Camera allowed for attendees online to get a 360 degree view of the room so we could see all in-person attendees, in addition the camera also panned towards sound if someone was talking and allowed for a multi-view where for example one of the members was demonstrating something on a whiteboard out of the normal cameras view then the camera split the view so we could see the normal camera as well as the whiteboard and presenter.

What was Discussed?

At the beginning of the meeting the main community member who led the meeting stated that the meeting had no specific agenda and instead was going to focus on brainstorming ideas and planning their April community outreach event. They took roll call of attendees at the meeting and begin planning ideas for their outreach meeting which will take place at the IU Public Library Auditorium with about 50 expected attendees. The first thing discussed was how to plan effective breakout sessions with all the attendees to ensure that:

1. Everyone who attends would have a chance for their voice to be heard
2. Each breakout session had engaging breakout topics
3. They created an environment for civil discourse and exchanging of ideas

Their discussed goal for each breakout session was to create a safe environment for discussion that focused on hearing personal stories and perspectives specifically from marginalized groups and communities in Bloomington as well as have a diverse group of people, ideologies, and experiences in each session to create a discussion.

They then discussed efficient ways to advertise the event and increase their outreach as the event was less than three weeks away. Some of the ideas discussed were to:

• Send out email invites to other government committee members and engaged community members
• Create a flier to post on social media and have in public spaces around Bloomington
• Reach out to other organizations such as Beacon and CHIP (Community Health Improvement Plan) Groups to get their involvement

In the meeting they also discussed some ideas they would like to tackle during the outreach event such as the relations between the people experiencing homelessness in Bloomington and law enforcement, the potential creation of a crisis response team rather than sending police officers when someone is experiencing a crisis, and the idea of a community led public safety program.

Conflicts in the Meeting

 

The main conflicts in the meeting came from discussing ideas to best run the outreach meeting. Such as a discussion on how to best enable online participants to attend and engage in all three of the breakout sessions (which occur simultaneously) even though they only had one Owl Camera available. As well they discussed as I mentioned above the most effective ways to advertise the event, and potential ideas on how they would have notes taken during the event.

Resolutions

These conflicts were resolved with the decision that the Owl Camera would be in the auditorium the entire meeting as that would be the main meeting point and also one of the rooms where a breakout session would be held. They were going to advertise through email, social media, fliers, and other organizations to increase event outreach. Finally, they decided that since many of the committee members worked with students (HS/College) in some capacity (as a teacher, tutor, etc.) they would have committee members gauge interest from any of their students if they would be willing to take notes at the event.

End of Meeting

The meeting ended with the in-person committee members walking through the auditorium as it was locked until 4:30pm. In the auditorium they were able to get a better image of how they wanted the event setup. There were no handouts during the meeting but there was a provided pre-meeting packet available online.  Community_Advisory_on_Public_Safety_Commission-20230324-Packet

Smart City Solutions

The main concern of the CAPS commission is to address public safety concerns specifically relating to marginalized groups and communities.

Many of the Smart City opportunities come in the form of advanced communication, health, and policing technologies. One such example is Simulated Police Training such as the trainings implemented in Sacramento, CA. These trainings are meant to help officers better understand and engage with marginalized communities and address existing prejudices and biases that may interfere in emergencies and escalate situations. The simulations provide officers with a safe and controlled environment to learn and practice effective de-escalation techniques, learn about cultural sensitivity, and increase effective communication skills. These simulated trainings help officers in Sacramento to:

• Replicate Real-Life Scenarios: Gives officers a chance to engage in real-life situations they may encounter, such as responding to a mental health crisis and interacting with people experiencing homelessness. This give them an opportunity to practice de-escalation and communication skills in these high-stress situations.
• Include Diverse Perspectives: The simulations can incorporate diverse perspectives from various marginalized groups in the community to provide feedback on the accuracy and effectiveness of the training, which can help officers to better understand the unique challenges and perspectives of these communities.
• Utilize Technology: Simulations can utilize things such as AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality technology) that can help to create an immersive and interactive environment mimicking real-life situations. In addition it can be used to track things such as officers eye movements, facial expressions, and body language to provide valuable feedback on how an officer should react in different scenarios.

Overall the Bloomington Community Advisory on Public Safety serves as a crucial bridge between the people and law enforcement that allows the community to safely criticize the systems and establishments meant to protect and provide valuable feedback, but most importantly it provides a mean for people of marginalized communities voices to be heard.