A new committee has been formed in Washington to enhance community relations between the police department and the public. At their recent city council meeting, Mayor Jaron Rosien said the committee will help the city enhance its work and improve outreach overall. The council approved the Community Advisory Committee creation with mayoral appointments of Erik Buchholz principal at Washington High School, Erin Kaye with the ministerial association, councilperson Elaine Moore, Jacqueline Arreola with Latinos for Washington, Chamber of Commerce Director Michelle Redlinger, Anna Venenga with the library, Dave Hoffman with WCDC, and Tera Pickens citizen and director of the Kirkwood Washington Regional Center.

Councilperson Danielle Pettit-Majewski said it’s a good group but there could be even more representation, “This is a great group of people, I’m glad they were all willing to say yes. One thought I had was, thinking about who should be at the table. One of the things that sticks in my head from my work with the American Public Health Association is ‘no policies about us without us.’ And so, I think about, you know, if there should be some representation from people who have had interactions with law enforcement and are maybe, you know, working on moving forward, I mean just to give different perspective.”

The committee will meet quarterly, or as needed. City Administrator Brent Hinson said it’d be a sounding board for the police chief and others can be added as there’s no limit to membership.