Ho ho ho! 🎅🏽 ❄️ 🍪 The holiday spirit was poppin’ at Lake View Community School on Madison’s north side, where families selected toys, clothing, and books to be wrapped by Madison Police Department Officers Krista Luedtke and Lu Senatus, among other volunteers. Behind the event’s magic was North’s Community Policing Advisory Board member and Lake View staffer “Eve the Elf” Ropel, with help from a little elf of her own, Lieutenant Daniel Perez. Shoutout to Toys for Tots for an exciting array of toys to choose from and to Madison Reading Project for keeping students’ bookshelves stacked with books in Arabic, Hmong, English, and Spanish! What a special opportunity for MPD and the North CPAB to interact with the north side community, including its beautiful population of recent Afghan immigrants. The north side is rich with cultural and linguistic diversity, including its Hmong community as well. We’re so grateful for this time together!

Today, North district Community Policing Advisory Board member and educator Eve Ropel, along with Madison Police Department's North district Captain Jamar Gary, Lieutenant Daniel Perez, and CORE Officer Carlin Becker, pitched in at the Lake View Elementary School / Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin food pantry, talking with and inviting North district neighbors to tomorrow's main National Night Out event at Warner Park. We hope to see you there!

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.

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.

With the Madison Police Department's North District piloting the use of body-worn cameras through June 2024, Community Policing Advisory Board Members had a chance to learn more from (and pose questions to) the independent researcher who will be analyzing the data from the pilot and issuing a report to the City of Madison Common Council.

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.

Madison Police Department's East District and North District CPABs met December 7 at the Goodman Community Center to collaborate with each other and with their district command staff and MCPF board members to solidify plans for a variety of community-building events they will be hosting in 2024.

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.

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!