In recent years, the East Chicago Police Department has been increasing its community outreach with the hopes that having more communication with City residents will deter area crime.
One way that this is done, is through the implementation of the Citizen’s Academy. The Academy offers East Chicago citizens the opportunity to participate in an eight-week course that teaches about the training and daily routine of police officers in the City through lessons, hands-on activities and outings.
Once they complete the course, participants become Ambassadors and are awarded certificates and uniforms that they can wear to accompany officers on future community outreach activities.
ECPD is also reaching out to East Chicagoans through the proposed implementation of a citizen review panel. Seats on this panel would be open to residents of East Chicago. The panel would meet regularly with the police department to discuss any issues that have been fielded from other residents and how to address these issues. The panel would also have the opportunity to review any internal investigations being conducted by the department, including those involving excessive force, an issue that is very important to members of the community.
By getting these issues out in the open, it is the hopes of ECPD that East Chicago residents will see crime rates drop in their neighborhoods.
For more information on ECPD community outreach, visit foundationsec.org.
