Winslow Police Dept. accepting applications for Citizen Liaison Committee

WINSLOW, Ariz. — The Winslow Police Department (WPD) is now accepting applications for the Citizen Liaison Committee (CLC), which is designed to proactively build trust between constituencies and the Winslow Police Department.

The committee’s main purpose is to allow people to address challenging community issues and collaborate in a respectful manner, in order to create a workable solution for the law enforcement related issues brought forth. The CLC will be comprised of up to 15 non-paid volunteer members and will not serve as a police oversight committee.

CLC members will work to improve the communications process between the police department and the community and will encourage community members to submit complaints without fear of retribution and will provide a proactive information forum to address community concerns when incidents and issues arise. CLC members will meet monthly and will host quarterly meetings which will be open to the public. Quarterly meetings will consist of community awareness trainings such as ‘Know your rights, know an officer’s authority’ training when contacted by law enforcement, safety trainings and open forums to address on-going issues impacting public safety in the community. These public forums will be held in various locations throughout Winslow.

Members of the CLC are required to be at least eighteen years of age, conduct at least one ride-along with an officer on an annual basis, tour the police department, attend the Citizens Police Academy (one night a week for eight weeks for education purposes only) and become generally familiar with police policies and its mission.

In order to form what will become the CLC, the Winslow Police Department worked hand in hand with an Exploratory Committee comprised of concerned citizens and groups who had approached Winslow Police Chief Dan Brown desiring such a committee to be formed.

The Exploratory Committee chose to model the Winslow Police Department’s CLC after the Flagstaff Police Department’s CLC, which has experienced great success with their program.

The members of the Winslow Exploratory Committee consisted of community members who represent local church clergy, representatives from the Winslow Chapter of the NAACP, members form the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, members of the Winslow Dine Group, local LGBTQ members, local business owners and members of the community at large. These groups and people who made up the Exploratory Committee were brought together to create a vision and a “wish-list” of what they would like to see occur between the Winslow Police Department and the community of Winslow stakeholders. These groups and individuals were pro-active in desiring a voice in the community.

The membership of 15 community members will include on at-large member from the Navajo Nation who resides in close proximity to Winslow (Bird Springs, Leupp, Dilkon Teesto etc…) and one at-large member of the Hopi Tribe. One member from the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission will be seated as well. These three non-resident positions were included by the Exploratory Committee since both tribes are heavily represented in the Winslow community.

Applications will be accepted starting Feb. 1 through March 31. There will be a question and answer session located at the WPD and open to the general public March 12 at 6 p.m.

More information, or to receive an application, is available from Administrative Assistant Jessica Meritt by email at jmeritt@winslowaz.gov, or by calling (928) 289-1447. Applications can also be picked up and dropped off in person at the Winslow Police Department, 708 West Third Street in Winslow.