A passerby was collapsing from heat stroke in the 86-degree heat on Saturday when Bloomington Police Department officers found an EMT to help her at the PRIDE Summerfest.
BPD officers set up a police booth at PRIDE Summerfest as a part of their community outreach and gave away police badge stickers, pens and, most importantly, cold water to anyone who was passing by the booth.
The woman sat down and LGBT liaison officers Sgt. David Alley and Sgt. Dana Cole assisted while other officers went to find EMTs. The woman recovered and was doing fine when EMTs took her out of the heat.
BPD’s original mission at the Summerfest was to talk about its new initiative with their liaisons and how it plans on bettering communication with the LGBT community and acting as leaders for everyone.
“We’re leaders in the (general) community,” BPD Capt. Steve Kellams said. “We need to be leaders in this one.”
The liaison officers are responsible for communication between the LGBT community and BPD officers. Their roles are designed to make them available to the community and able to answer questions and ease concerns, Cole said.
Kellams said Cole was the first to bring up the idea for the liaison officers to the department and that Cole sparked the conversation on how BPD could better work with the LGBT community.
Kellams said BPD hadn’t thought they had a problem communicating with the LGBT community until Cole brought it to his attention.
Once BPD officers realized they were not communicating effectively or being leaders for the LGBT community, they started adapting, Cole said.
“It was time that we did something,” Cole said.
Cole, originally from South Bend, Indiana, said he came to Bloomington for the openness and diversity of the town. Cole said being gay in law enforcement is not always easy but the atmosphere at BPD persuaded him to come.
The only other police department in Indiana that has liaison officers is Indianapolis, and they only have one.
BPD has never been involved in this way at the Summerfest before. This was its first kickoff event with the LGBT community to talk, answer questions and address concerns.
Alley, a former Navy submariner, emphasized the importance of being available to answer questions and address concerns for the LGBT community.
“It speaks volumes about the openness and diversity of BPD,” Alley said.
Kellams said all of the BPD’s gay officers that he knows are out are comfortable at BPD. Alley said he wants every officer to be an ally for the LGBT community.
The liaison officers and their jobs are new and specific duties for liaison officers are still being defined. Cole said he is looking to reach out and be available for people and their concerns.
Cole said he was looking to work closer with the University and the IU Police Department to help talk more to student groups about questions of health and safety.
BPD said they are also looking into a refocusing on recruitment when it comes to LGBT officers and are hoping to use new methods to reach those people. Cole said he sees big possibilities in the future, and the duties for the liaison officers are still changing as BPD reaches out to the community.
“This is something big,” Cole said. “We’ll see where we go from here.”
