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  <br />   <br />   <br />   <br />   <br />   <br />   <br />   <br />   <br />During  the  past  year,  the  League  of  Women  Voters  of  Roseville  Area,  with  members  in  Falcon  Heights,   <br />Lauderdale,  Little  Canada,  Maplewood  and  Roseville  put  a  timely  finger  on  the  pulse  of  state  and  national   <br />news  by  fielding  a  year-­‐‑long  study  of  police  services  and  trainings  in  our  five  cities.    The  officer  trainings  we   <br />studied  were  those  educating  officers  to  avoid  racial  profiling  and  how  to  handle  crises  involving  people   <br />with  mental  illness  and  domestic  abuse  situations.    Hard-­‐‑working  committee  members  gathered  data  from   <br />cities  and  conducted  interviews  with  police  chiefs  and  Ramsey  County  Sheriff  Matt  Bostrom.    The  chiefs   <br />and  sheriff  also  spoke  on  a  panel  to  help  educate  the  public  and  us  on  these  issues.    We  want  to  publicly   <br />thank  city  staff  and  particularly  the  police  chief  for  his  wonderful  help  in  being  interviewed,  speaking  on   <br />the  panel,  and  providing  other  feedback  along  the  way  as  we  arrived  at  our  conclusions.   <br />   <br />In  addition  to  the  police  panel,  we  also  hosted  public  meetings  with  Ramsey  County  Attorney  John  Choi    on   <br />domestic  violence  and  Minnesota  Police  Officers  Standards  and  Trainings  Executive  Director  Nate  R.  Gove   <br />on  Minnesota  police  education.    We  wrote  a  comprehensive  report  on  findings,  and  our  members  came  to   <br />consensus  on  the  new  Roseville  Area  League  positions  that  I’m  proud  to  share  with  you  tonight.    Our  report   <br />and  those  positions  are  in  your  packets  and  were  also  sent  to  you  ahead.    I  will  read  them  for  the  public  to   <br />hear.   <br />   <br />The  League  of  Women  Voters  of  Roseville  Area:   <br />   <br />1.    Recommends  community  police  departments  improve  data  collection  of  police  activity  to  ensure             <br />accountability  for  avoiding  racial  profiling  and  track  that  officers  dispatched  to  domestic  violence  and   <br />mental  health  crisis  situations  have  appropriate  training.   <br />   <br />2.      Recommends  that  all  cities  periodically  evaluate  police  cost-­‐‑analysis  and  service  delivery.   <br />   <br />3.      Supports  the  Memphis  Model,  or  a  substantial  equivalent  Crisis  Intervention  Training  (CIT),  for  police   <br />officers  dealing  with  mental  health  crises.   <br />   <br />4.    Supports  the  St.  Paul  Blueprint  for  Safety,  or  a  substantial  equivalent  training,  for  police  officers  dealing   <br />with  domestic  violence.   <br />   <br />5.    Supports  diversity  training  for  all  police  officers.   <br />   <br />6.    Recommends  that  LWVMN  advocate  for  more  state  funding  for  CIT  training  for  police  officers  dealing   <br />with  mental  health  crises  and  for  development  of  additional  mental  health  facilities  and  community  based   <br />services.   <br />   <br />On  behalf  of  the  League  of  Women  Voters  of  Roseville  Area,  I  urge  you  to  take  our  recommendations  to   <br />heart  as  you  draft  city  budgets  and  policies.    I  welcome  any  questions  you  may  have.  Thank  you.   <br />   <br />   <br />   <br />   <br />