Local police hosting educational summit

Posted on April 26, 2015

The Illinois National Guard Armory in Bloomington will be home to a police educational summit on Wednesday. (Adam Studzinski/WJBC)

By Adam Studzinski

BLOOMINGTON – Local law enforcement will be hosting a public educational summit on Wednesday.

Attendees will be to learn how and why officers handle situations the way they do.

“We will have traffic stop scenarios. We will have use of force scenarios. They will get an overview of handcuffing. They will see, and receive, an overview with demonstrations of tasers,” said Bloomington Police Chief Brendan Heffner. “There’s going to be a K9 demonstration.”

Heffner said residents will be able to fully interact with officers.

“Some people don’t really understand why we do what we do and why we don’t want you moving around a lot, say, in your vehicle when we move up,” said Heffner. “People will see that we have to make decisions within a split second and that we are still human, even with training.”

Representatives from all local law enforcement will be participating. The event is open to the public and will take place from 5-8 p.m. at the Illinois National Guard Armory on South Main Street in Bloomington.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].

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