The Rapid City Police Department is planning a community meeting aimed at improving race relations.
Police officials intend to reveal the findings on a recent study completed by University of South Dakota researchers and commissioned by the Police Department.
Police Chief Karl Jegeris says he is working hard to find a positive way forward.
He says he understands there has been a degree of distrust of police within the Native American community.
“My goal is to trouble shoot that and figure out exactly what we can do to make things better. And, I feel there is a lot of positive energy right now in the community, and even though we’ve had some negative incidents that have occurred, it has brought people together in a problem solving mode. And so, I’m very happy that we are going to be hosting this,” says Jegeris.
Jegeris says he has taken positive steps to improve race relations, including a push to increase diversity in the force, the hiring of a new cultural advisor and the creation of a cultural advisory board.
The meeting is planned for Tuesday, November 10th at 6:00 pm at the Mother Butler Center you can find an attached flyer here.