Illumination Project: Potential for harmony

Throughout the nation, recent tragic events have demonstrated that relationships between police departments and the communities they serve have eroded to varying degrees, resulting for some in unrest, demonstrations or outright violence. 

“Police officers are just human beings. They’re regular people,” said Chief Kevin Kerley, MUSC Department of Public Safety director, who also sits on the Charleston Illumination Project. He believes that if people understood that, it might go a long way in healing relationships between the police and citizens.

In the wake of the murders of nine people at Mother Emanuel Church in June 2015, Charleston’s show of harmony and unity went a long way in serving as a model for the rest of the country. Still, the Charleston area has suffered as a result of events that tarnished reputations and strained good will, including the North Charleston Slager–Scott incident, which involved the fatal shooting of an unarmed black motorist by a white police officer following a traffic stop.

In response, the city of Charleston and the Charleston Police Department conceptualized an innovative way to open dialogue and encourage police and community members to sit together and sincerely listen to one another. The Illumination Project was born, and in the 11 months since its inception, great strides have been made, according to Chief Greg Mullen, who visited MUSC on August 1 to meet with campus police officers and keep them updated on the program.

According to Mark Ruppel, executive director of the Charleston Police Fund, the Illumination Project is a collaborative approach to enhancing relationships between police officers and citizens that will serve to build trust and legitimacy and dispel negative perceptions. “This project will explore the natural tensions that exist between the important social values of public safety and the civil liberties of individuals and lead to solutions that will have a lasting and positive impact.”

MUSC has been a key partner in the Illumination Project since its beginning, and MUSC personnel are integrally involved: Kerley serves on the steering group and Lisa Montgomery, executive vice president for finance and administration, and Anton Gunn, chief diversity officer for MUSC Health and executive director of community health innovation, both serve on the project’s citizen resource group.

MUSC’s Department of Public Safety, Montgomery said, works collaboratively and collegially with the Charleston Police Department (CPD). “Our officers partner with the CPD,” she said. “We are right in the middle of the Charleston community, and we are resources for each other. MUSC is privileged to be a part of the Illumination Project, and we fully support the efforts of this important initiative and the CPD. This project is a game changer and has the potential to change the very culture of any city that adopts this model.”

Kerley agreed. “We work closely with CPD – and our officers are very supportive of the Illumination Project. We fully support Chief Mullen, and we do everything we possibly can do to support him and the CPD.”

MUSC’s chief believes there is a need for law enforcement and the community to come together. “Law enforcement needs to provide the services that the community desires, and the community needs to understand that cops are human beings just like them.”

He explained that the Illumination Project has sponsored 79 listening sessions throughout the Charleston area, which have been extremely productive. “Chief Mullen and I attended a session where community members admitted they don’t see a person, they see a man in a uniform with a gun. They don’t see the person behind the badge – just the badge and gun.”
He’s hoping that through open dialogue and discussion, everyone can learn that cops are just people, too.

With 36 years of law enforcement experience under his belt, he has great insight into where the disconnect comes from. “To a large degree, the training for law enforcement has not kept up.

Training for many years has been the warrior mindset in an effort to battle crime. But the reality is, we need to adopt the guardian concept: If we have to step into the breach and become warriors, we have that ability, but that should not be our focus — our focus is to be guardians, to work with the community, to provide protection for them, to provide the services they want. It’s a learning curve on both sides.”

Kerley believes the evolution of policing from the late 80s into the early 90s, when crime and the number of murders nationwide were both significantly higher than they are today, led to that mindset. “As crime and the murder rate decreased, that mindset never changed,” he said. “We have to realize, ‘OK, we have relatively low crime right now, but in the City of Charleston, and especially on the MUSC campus, there is no violent crime issue. This is a perfect opportunity to change the mindset of the communities and the police.”

He feels that as the Illumination Project moves forward, other cities will be adopting and adapting similar initiatives. “It’s been a free exchange of ideas. When it first started, people were talking at each other. Now they’re talking to each other. It appears to be working.

I think there’s an opportunity now for it to expand and go nationwide. Each city will have to massage it to fit its own needs, but it has great possibility.”

The CPD and MUSC Public Safety work in close collaboration, and MUSC is able to provide everything on campus that CPD is able to offer in the community, with the exception of DUI monitoring. CPD officers recently began wearing body cameras, and MUSC followed suit — a trend that is consistent with many police departments throughout the nation. This important technology provides officers with another law enforcement tool and both the officers and citizens with an added measure of security and accountability. Patient confidentiality and HIPAA guidelines are strictly adhered to.

Kerley feels fortunate that at MUSC, the people the officers encounter are rarely angry, and they enjoy friendly relationships with people on campus. “We are a 100 percent service–oriented police department,” he said. “We’ve taken total control of the campus in terms of law enforcement. Of course we will arrest someone if there’s been a violation of the law, but our mandate is to provide a safe, secure environment for our people to learn and work. We do that by providing a top–notch service. That is the way we operate here.”

The Department of Public Safety falls under Montgomery’s purview, and she has the highest praise for Kerley and MUSC’s police force. “Our officers are fully–sworn law enforcement professionals who do everything possible to keep the MUSC family safe and secure. They go out of their way not only to protect us but also to help in any way they can. From providing meals to families in the Children’s Hospital to safely escorting employees to their cars, jumping batteries and unlocking doors  — they always bring their A–game and never hesitate to go the extra mile to serve the MUSC community. We could not be in better hands.”

Every first Tuesday of the month, officers arrange for local restaurants to donate food and volunteers to come in and feed nearly 80 family members of children in the Children’s Hospital.  

“You’ll have mothers with children in the Children’s Hospital who never leave their children. Most of the time they’re not even eating. To take a 20–minute break, walk to the eighth floor and enjoy a couple slices of pizza — they are incredibly appreciative. Our cops get the feeling of giving back to the community, and they get to interact with the kids and parents and have a very good time. They also are seen in a different light. They’re not seen as law enforcement; they are seen as people who are helping families.”

He can’t say enough good things about the restaurants that donate food — Halo, Paisano’s Pizza Grill, the Roost Bar N’ Grille, Baroni’s Pizza and Papa John’s Pizza. “Paisano’s has donated food on three occasions, and Halo and the Roost recently donated enough food to feed the 82nd Airborne. They are all so wonderful to work with. We can hardly thank these businesses enough. If people are looking to go out somewhere to eat, I hope they think of these generous businesses.”

At the end of the day, Kerley knows his people have made the grade. “Our officers are good people who want to serve the MUSC Community to the best of their abilities. We’re just normal people doing the best job we can. People approach us, talk to us, get to know us. We are part of the MUSC family, and we protect our family.”