After reviewing Centre County police forces over the last 5 years, the Town And Gown task force on policing and communities of color released a report this week on their findings
The report includes findings on the State College Police Department, Penn State University Police and public safety, Bellefonte Borough, and Ferguson, Spring and Patton Township Police Departments.
The task force itself is made up of university employees and staff, and community members.
One of their jobs was to review the progress made since the task forces findings back in 2016, which only included the State College and Penn States Police Departments, they did find that those
agencies have, quote, engaged in various strategies to improve their relationships with communities of color.
The report did show 5 main categories of recommendations for improvement, they include
The need for external consultants
Diversifying the workforce
More data consistency
More training initiatives
And more community engagement