The City of Topeka, the Department of Justice and Washburn University will be hosting a
Department of Justice Program on Strengthening Police and Community Partnerships on June 8th.
For the past several months a planning committee, made up of several diverse community members, has
been working on putting together the SPCP program. The day long program will be composed of two
large group sessions and two break-out sessions where Topekan’s can talk about their relationship
with the Topeka Police Department and issues in their community. For the morning session the small
groups will identify issues in the community. Once those issues are identified, the small groups
will be discussing solutions to the top five problems identified in the morning.
“Washburn University’s Criminal Justice and Legal Studies Department is honored to work with the
Topeka Police Department, the Department of Justice, and local community members in their efforts
to improve community and police relations,” said Dr. Ryan Alexander, the Criminal Justice and Legal
Studies Department faculty member helping to plan the event.
During the Strengthening Police and Community Partnerships program, a council will be formed from
community members who participate in the program. This SPCP council will be working together to
advise Chief Cochran and continue community conversations in Topeka.
“I am eager to get to hear from Topekan’s about their ideas and see how this diverse group can come
up with innovative solutions to Topeka’s issues,” said Topeka Police Chief Bill Cochran. “The
council formed out of this group will be a great asset to the police
department.”
The SPCP day-long event on June 8th will be invite only. Members of the planning group are inviting
influential community members who can go out into their neighborhoods and tell their friends and
neighbors about the SPCP program and continue the work and community conversation that the program
started.
Members of the planning group include:
Melissa Masoner
Major Russell Klumpp
Joe Ledbetter
Ed Collazo
Marty Hillard
Luis Estrada
P.J. Carter
Pastor Marcus Clark
Molly Hadfield
Ben Scott