Look who made the Nice List! 🎅🏽 Santa made a special visit on Monday to the Heights on University Ave., where kids and officers from the Madison Police Department’s Midtown district decorated cookies together and shared in holiday cheer. Thank you to Santa's helpers (Midtown's Community Policing Advisory Board) for organizing such a fun holiday party! 🎉🎁🥳

Madison Police Department staff and other community leaders hosted their very first Public Safety Summit on July 23 at the Warner Park Community Center, and several CPAB Advisors were in attendance.

The goal: to understand current safety trends in Madison and the strategies the community is using to prevent crime.

Panelists, including representatives from the Dane County Sheriff’s Office, Public Health Madison & Dane County, and Focused Interruption Coalition discussed opportunities for collaboration to enhance safety in Madison.

Lt. James Imoehl attended Midtown’s June CPAB meeting to deliver an informative and interesting presentation on Madison Police Department's Special Events Team (SET), including its history, goals, philosophy, and specialty units (bike, field extraction, grenadier, logistics, and medics).

Advisors asked great questions and had fun trying on the protective gear worn by SET members when responding to community events such as protests and demonstrations.

Day two of the much-anticipated ceramics class, taught by MPD’s Midtown Community Policing Advisory Board member Kahlia Lintner and supported by her fellow Advisors and MPD Officers, finally arrived on Monday! Everyone enjoyed expressing their creativity through colorful underglazing and decorating of their own creations from the first class, now fired and dried for painting.

Youth and adults alike completed surveys for the second time about their feelings related to safety in Madison and their perceptions of the Madison Police Department. This is an important tool for our data gathering as we analyze the impact of this grant-funded work throughout the year and beyond.

On May 22, 30 Community Policing Advisory Board members were awarded "Community Member Assistance" Citations by Madison Police Department Chief Shon Barnes for their work over the last 11 months helping to build trust and legitimacy between police and the community.

Budding young artists and residents of The Heights in MPD's Midtown district learned how to make clay pinch pots on Monday in a fun-filled (and joyously messy) afternoon with MPD Officers and staff and Midtown's Community Policing Advisory Board members.

Madison Police Department's North District Community Policing Advisory Board Members, along with Midtown Advisor Mohammad Din Hajizada, hosted a Northside Madison dinner for immigrants and refugees (as well as community members) in partnership with Public Health Madison & Dane County and the African Center for Community Development, Inc. Advisors and Madison Police Department's new Northside District Captain Jamar Gary felt honored to meet and talk with residents about community safety issues.

On October 19, all six of Madison Police Department's Community Policing Advisory Boards met for the first time under the same roof. MPD Chief Shon Barnes outlined MPD's 5-year strategic plan, emphasizing the need for community partnerships. “We are taking our first step at becoming a national model for exceptional policing through this commitment to forming effective community partnerships,” Chief Barnes said.

A Midtown Advisor, through his refugee resettlement and immigration work with Jewish Social Services, invites fellow Midtown Advisors to meet, eat, and talk with recent immigrants and refugees at the First Responders Picnic at Christ Presbyterian Church, along with Jewish Social Services, MPD, and other area first responders.

National Night Out, held the first week in August throughout Madison and the U.S., is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships. Several of our Community Policing Advisory Board members came out to meet and talk with residents about neighborhood safety, gathering ideas, feedback, and new friends!