Flossmoor forum in wake of police shooting that killed a 64-year-old woman focuses on improved training

Better training for police to respond to crisis situations could help prevent a repeat of the July fatal shooting of a 64-year-old Flossmoor woman at the hands of town police, it was suggested at a community forum on Saturday.

The event was called in an effort to strengthen ties between Flossmoor Police and residents following a call for a domestic disturbance which resulted in officers shooting and killing Madeline Millerwhose family said he had mental health problems.

Another recommendation was that trained mental health experts accompany Flossmoor officers on certain calls.

Police responding to a July 10 call of a domestic disturbance shot Miller three times, once in the arm and twice in the torso. The shooting is being investigated by state police.

Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson said Miller’s death was “an unbelievable tragedy, not just for his family but for the whole town.”

About 100 people attended the forum at Parker Junior High, where attendees broke into smaller groups to discuss, with the help of facilitators, their concerns about the shooting and possible solutions to prevent it from happening again.

In those breakout sessions, people expressed “anger, confusion, disappointment, frustration,” said one facilitator, summarizing the discussion in his group.

Flossmoor Assistant Police Chief Keith Taylor said trust, communication and honesty are vital to good police-community relations.

“For us to be strong, we all have a part to play,” Taylor said.

Hazel Crest Police Chief Mitchell Davis, former president of the Illinois Police Chiefs Association, was also a facilitator.

Davis said the community forum was the beginning of what should be an ongoing process.

“This will not be the end, but a foundation for us to move forward,” Davis said before the business sessions.

Davis said one suggestion from a breakout session she oversaw included Flossmoor police leveraging resources used by other departments to respond to calls where someone might be having a mental health crisis.

Carla Madeleine Kupe, an attorney and co-founder and managing partner of CZL, a Chicago-based legal and business consulting firm, said participants in the session she facilitated want Flossmoor officials to be more proactive in community relations. .

The goal is to have regular forums “so that there is constant and consistent communication” between the town and residents, Kupe said.

Miller was black, and one facilitator said the concern he heard is that there is racial tension in the village and “as long as it’s not open, it’s ignored.”

“There is a fear that exists in the black community,” he said, conveying the concerns raised in the work session.

A suggestion from the breakout session called for diversity, equity and inclusion training, not just for the police but for all employees in the village.

Video from cameras officers used showed Miller holding what appeared to be a large kitchen knife, and the department said he ignored officers’ demands to drop the knife and charged them.

family members said at an August meeting of the Flossmoor village board that Miller had mental health problems and questioned whether Flossmoor officers were properly trained to handle such situations.

Police responding on July 10 heard “discussion and commotion” inside the residence and, after announcing her presence, a woman opened the door with a walker, police said after the shooting.

A female family member began yelling “she’s trying to kill me,” and she and the woman in the walker moved out of the officers’ way, police said.

Miller came around a corner with a large kitchen knife and “quickly ran toward the officers with the knife pointed in their direction,” police said.

State police are investigating and the officers involved have been suspended pending the outcome, according to Police Chief Tod Kamleiter. He said Saturday that the state police report should be completed in about a month.

Nelson said the forum was meant to allow residents and others “to be heard, to tell us what’s on their minds,” and that it is meant to be part of an ongoing process.

“The conversation doesn’t end with this meeting,” Nelson said.

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