By Blake Haas
NORMAL – Despite the tragedy in Dallas, Normal Police Chief Rich Bleichner says that the community shouldn’t worry because the police force of Normal will continue to do their job.
“Were humans we’re not robots, these kinds of things definitely effect us and impact us. I think just allowing the ability for people to talk about it will be very helpful. As a community we can be very supportive of those officers and encouraging because were not going to stop doing our jobs, were going to go out in the work force each and every day and do the best job that we can do” added Chief Bleichner. “Were going to do what we need to do to keep the community safe. We just have to have some internal mechanisms so that we can do our job as good as possible.”
The aftermath of the shootings in Minnesota, Louisiana, and Texas have affected many different parts of the United States, but has also made an impact on the smaller community of Normal. Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner says that they are working with the NAACP and other minority groups to make sure everyone feels safe in the community.
“We have conversations with the NAACP and other minority groups in the community, we have open lines of communications if there is a specific incidents or situations that civilians are not happy about. We encourage the community to come forward to us and make us aware of the situation” added Bleichner. “We need to have people say this is what occurred and this is what is not right, so that we can make appropriate changes if necessary.”
“I think that we need to improve relationships with everyone in the community. I think that in general we have tremendous support for the job that we do but, I think we are always looking for ways to get better” added Chief Bleichner. “Continue to have outreach and have programs to try and break down the barriers and walls. As long as were moving in the right direction something like this will not stop it. We will continue to work with the community, we will continue to do outreach, and we will continue to be approachable and look to serve the community in the best way that we can.”
Normal Police department designed a special unit for the comfort to the civilians outside of daily patrols. The Community Services Unit of the department is responsible for outside groups to make sure that all aspects of the department and community stay safe.
Normal Police Chief Rich Bleichner said that its more important for the community to keep an eye on the force as it is for the force to keep an eye on the community. Normal Police protect around 55 thousand people. Belichner said that the day after a shooting, they are looking into potential threats to make sure the community of Normal stays safe.
“I don’t know if its less safe, certainly were looking into information and trying to determine if there are potential threats. I think our staff goes to work everyday not knowing what’s around the corner and in the car that we pull over” said Chief Bleichner.”Certain aspects we try to prepare for the situation as best as we can because we deal with a portion of that each and every day.”
Blake Haas can be reached at Blake.Haas@cumulus.com
