Memo - Background on JCPP AwardMemo
To: Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council
From: CWCra lZe�&
CC: Rick Getschow, City Manager
Date: 11/12/2009
Re: Background on JCPP Award
In 2004 the Police Chiefs of Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park respectively, briefed the Hennepin County
Board of Commissioners about a potentially explosive situation building in their communities involving the relationship
between suburban police departments and the immigrant/minority group populations that are resident in suburban
Hennepin Cities.
Hennepin County created the Joint Community Police Partnership (JCPP) program in 2005. The program assigns
Immigrant Outreach Specialists from Hennepin County to work directly with city police departments. The Immigrant
Outreach Specialists seek to improve immigrant understanding of law enforcement practices, help immigrants access
needed services and provide a link between the police department and the immigrant community. Along with
education and services for immigrants the JCPP Program organizes police officer training in cultural sensitivity and
languages.
In 2008 Hennepin County approved a request from the City of Hopkins to join the JCPP Program. Hopkins has the
third highest percentage of foreign -born population in the metro area. Working to provide services to this large group
of residents has been a challenge for the Hopkins Police Department in the last few years.
Tsehai Wodajo was selected to serve as the Immigrant Outreach Specialist for Hopkins. In her previous positions with
Hennepin County, Ms. Wodajo has been involved in several projects in Hopkins including chairing the Blake Road
Corridor Advisory Collation. Ms. Wodajo located her office in the Hopkins Police Department in January 2008 and had
department orientation along with meeting with immigrant residents.
In the last two years the Department has conducted cultural training for officers, New Americans Academies for
Immigrants, hired a Somali Police Cadet and created the Mutli- Cultural Advisory Committee (MAC). Ms. Wodajo has
been instrumental in helping the department deal with immigrant contact in a number of major cases since she began
working with the department.
JCPP's three key strategies for enhancing relationships are:
• Increasing community members' knowledge and understanding of police procedures and laws
• Improving police officers' knowledge and understanding of the diverse cultural communities
• Providing more opportunities for positive interaction• and two- way communication between police officers and
community members
In October 2009, the International Association of Chiefs of Police presented their 2009 Civil Rights Award to the JCPP
Project in the multi agency category. All four cites, including Hopkins, were invited to receive the awards in the
association's award dinner in Denver Colorado. The IACP represents over 20,000 senior law enforcement officials
from 80 countries.