Members of the Huntsville Police Citizens Advisory Committee (HPCAC) want to be clear. The body formed in 2010 serves as a bridge between the community and law enforcement. The panel is not part of nor governed by the force.

Likewise, the Huntsville Police Department (HPD) isn’t beholden to the council.

Current HPCAC board members say their voices are heard and, in his eight years on the committee, current president and chair Wiley Day Jr. said there haven’t been any issues that are dismissed or left unresolved.

“Believe it or not, surprisingly, no,’’ he said Tuesday night during the first “Public Listening Session’’ the council conducted. “Huntsville has been very progressive, taking information from not just our council, but from outside, you know, outlets, whatever have you.

“And they have actually taken information and made it applicable and they utilize it. I am proud of Huntsville for what they do. You know, the information that is given to them, they take a serious look at it.’’

The council held its first public meeting of the year at the Johnson Legacy Center, with District 1 serving as host. In its current version, the council includes three mayoral appointees and two from each city council member in the city’s five districts.

At the inaugural listening session, the council designed an exercise to promote more discussion among those in attendance in an effort to identify community perceptions about the HPD, provide insight into areas where HPD can improve practices or communications, and help ensure residents are informed about HPD policies, procedures, and programs.

Small groups were formed and asked to discuss these five questions:

Do you feel safe in your neighborhood?
Do you know who your Community Relations Officers are in your area?
2b. For parents: Do you know your children’s School Resource Officers?
Are you familiar with HPD’s Citizens Police Academy?
What do you think HPD is doing well in your community?
What are your suggestions for HPD recruitment?

Each group included a council member. Notebooks were available to record responses and suggestions to the council.

“In small groups they are more inclined to talk and give us their ideas,’’ Day said.

Nicarla Friend, council secretary, backed Day’s assessment that HPD listens to the feedback given from the public meetings and executive sessions.

“Yes,’’ she said. “We just have to do our part in communicating what the issues are, the concerns.’’

According to Friend, false narratives regarding police might persist because the public is not fully informed about what the force is doing. One example, she said, is how officers interact with persons with mental illness.

“If there’s concerns about HPD just doesn’t seem trained when it comes to dealing with mentally ill people, it’s like, well now (committee members know) that they have that training because they walked us through their training,’’ she said. “But the community obviously doesn’t know that.

“So now (HPD needs to) go and let the community know through a presentation: This is the training that we have. You know, HPD is actually one of the most trained, they have the most rigorous training out of all of the police departments in the state. Even more than ALEA.’’

Tuesday night’s public meeting was the first of four this year, along with executive sessions.

“The whole point of it is to just get what the concerns are of the community,’’ Friend said. “What we’re really trying to do is be a bridge. So any kind of disconnects between HPD and this community, we wanna know about ’em so that we can tell HPD like, ‘This is what the community is concerned about and we need you to acknowledge and address that stuff’.’’