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In an effort to improve communication between the police department and the public, Chief Mark Kinmon is inviting citizens to a question-and-answer session in city hall Wednesday night at 6 p.m.

This inaugural meeting of the Police Chief’s Advisory Committee is being held to keep the public apprised of goings-on within the department, Kinmon said.

“There is a lot of interest in our internal affairs process and police conduct,” said Kinmon [pictured above].

The committee does not have any designated members yet and tomorrow night’s meeting will mostly consist of a question-and-answer session with the department, the chief said. This effort to reach out to the public was spurred by an event in town that took place about a year and a half ago.

In November 2010, the Boys & Girls Club held an event which let out at around 11:30 p.m., Kinmon said. “The kids were released into the streets and some of the kids got involved with some disorderly conduct,” he said. “Nothing too crazy — walking in the streets and some bottle-throwing, things like that.”

An officer decided to arrest two juveniles and followed them into an apartment, Kinmon said. “At the time of the arrest, there was some interference by other people that were in the apartment and some force was used,” he said.

The incident “took on a life of its own and there was a lot of misinformation,” including reports that officers had assaulted the juveniles, he said.

Also, the chief was communicating with the Department of Justice at the time to deal with flawed relationships between officers, he said. This, combined with the allegations of misconduct stemming from the November 2010 incident, spurred some citizens to request the city form a civilian review committee.

As the chief gathered information about possible starting a civilian review committee, he found many citizens’ concerns were also related to code enforcement or general quality-of-life issues. He decided to hold public meetings where citizens are free to ask about various issues in town.

At tomorrow night’s meeting, Kinmon will “give everybody a history of how we got to where we are now and tell them what our expectations are and what we hope to gain by meeting regularly,” he said. He will also introduce to the public some members of the police department who can aid them with specific concerns. Kinmon will also provide attendees with a list of officers and their contact numbers.

Communication between a police department and a city’s residents “is always a tough issue,” Kinmon said. “It should be one of the easiest to fix, though, as long as you have people who are willing to listen and take action.”

The committee will likely hold meetings every four to six weeks, Kinmon said. Tomorrow night’s meeting will take place at 6 p.m. in council chambers.

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