Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on October 8, 2020

WATERLOO, Iowa (KWWL) - Waterloo community members and police officers joined together to talk about possible changes to the Waterloo police insignia.

"I want all of you to be the example of working together," Mayor Quentin Hart said to all 12 voting members and four nonvoting members for the commitee.

The nonvoting members include at-large council members Sharon Juon and Dave Boesen, along with two local students.

The group met on zoom after Waterloo City Council approved a resolution allowing the committee to form. There are different feelings about the logo, it features ared griffin with a green eye on a gold background that was adopted in 1964.

Police say the patch is traditional carrying on vigilance, while some community members said the griffin represents the Ku Klux Klan dragon.

Waterloo police reported in August, the Anti-Defamation League had been contacted and found no connection between a griffin and any hate groups.

Members of the committee plan to meet the first Wednesday of every month through zoom. For the first time, the members talked their thoughts on the griffin insignia and an ideal relationship between police and residents.

The current logo received words like "divisive," "aggressive," "fear," "courage," and guardianship amongst committee members. Committee members said words pertaining to an ideal police relationship were "respect," "essential," "service" and "support."

The words said during the meeting are supposed to be passed on to designers for public submissions.

In future meetings, the group will discuss color scheme, wording and replacement costs at its next meeting in November.

Public submissions will be accepted through 2020. The commitee will consider designs that include a griffin and other designs.

"A lot of us have the same words, we may view them a little differently, and speak a little differently, but we're not as far off as people think we are," Waterloo Police and Co-Chair Major Joe Leibold said.

The first deadline for the committee will be in February, where they will present financial recommendations to the city council.

The next meeting will be Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. on Zoom.

Comments on the meeting can be directed here at his email address, comments@waterloo-ia.org

See more here:
Committee talks rebranding of Waterloo Police insignia - kwwl.com

Category: Anti-Defamation League
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