People fill the pews at City of Refuge Church in Bloomington Thursday night for a public forum with local law enforcement officials. (Joe Ragusa/WJBC)

By Joe Ragusa

BLOOMINGTON – Law enforcement officials met with the public to discuss race relations in Bloomington-Normal during an event called "Breaking Barriers."

One of the subjects covered Thursday was the lack of diversity on the police force. Minorities make up almost five-percent of the officers for Normal and Bloomington.

Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner said they need more minority applicants.

"If you have a process and you have 150 applicants and you only have five that are a minority, the chances of those five making it through the process to interview and hire are pretty slim," Bleichner said.

Bloomington Police Chief Brendan Heffner said there needs to be more minorities in law enforcement. He responded to a comment about him being one of the only African-Americans on the force.

"I'm going to take your comments a little personal, because you made it sound like I got here just to be here," Heffner said to one of the people asking questions Thursday at City of Refuge Church in Bloomington. "You need to look at my resume to see what I did to get here."

McLean County Sheriff Jon Sandage said they are actively recruiting minorities.

"Believe me, it's not for a lack of trying," Sandage said. "If you want to be a part of our team, we encourage you to come and apply.

State's Attorney Jason Chambers echoed the same thought in terms of the diversity among criminal prosecutors, saying 90-percent of attorneys that are certified by the American Bar Association are white, and that's a prerequisite for employment consideration as a prosecutor in the McLean County State's Attorney's office.

16-percent of ISU police are African-American while the McLean County Sheriff's office employees three black corrections officers.

Officials say there are more community-police forums being planned.

Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].