05/26/2026
Last week, your Illinois Quad City Law Enforcement leaders met with the Rock Island County NAACP at the The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center to reaffirm our commitment to trust, accountability, transparency, dignity, and partnership between law enforcement and the communities we are sworn to serve. The Ten Shared Principles embodies the mutual commitment, responsibility and respect we all share.
In the words of the NAACP - Rock Island County, Illinois Branch President Bonnie Ballard, “When communities trust law enforcement, cooperation grows. When law enforcement understands and respects the communities they serve, safety grows. And when both stand together with shared purpose, hope grows.”
Pictured from left to right are Village of Milan Police Department Chief Derek Radosevich, Rock Island County Sheriff's Office Sheriff Darren Hart, City of East Moline Police Department Chief Jeff Ramsey, NAACP – Rock Island County, Illinois Branch President Bonnie Ballard, Rock Island Police Department Chief Tim McCloud, Moline Police Department Chief Darren Gault, Illinois State Police Troop 2 Captain Jason Dickey, and Silvis Police Department Chief Gene Karzin.
The Ten Shared Principles are as follows:
1. We value the life of every person and consider life to be the highest value.
2. All persons should be treated with dignity and respect. This is another foundational value.
3. We reject discrimination toward any person that is based on race, ethnicity, religion, color, nationality, immigrant status, sexual orientation, gender, disability, or familial status.
4. We endorse the six pillars in the report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The first pillar is to build and rebuild trust through procedural justice, transparency, accountability, and honest recognition of past and present obstacles.
5. We endorse the four pillars of procedural justice, which are fairness, voice (i.e. an opportunity for citizens and police to believe they are heard), transparency, and impartiality.
6. We endorse the values inherent in community policing, which includes community partnerships involving law enforcement, engagement of police officers with residents outside of interaction specific to enforcement of laws, and problem-solving that is collaborative, not one-sided.
7. We believe that developing strong ongoing relationships between law enforcement and communities of color at the leadership level and street level will be the keys to diminishing and eliminating racial tension.
8. We believe that law enforcement and community leaders have a mutual responsibility to encourage all citizens to gain a better understanding and knowledge of the law to assist them in their interactions with law enforcement officers.
9. We support diversity in police departments and in the law enforcement profession. Law enforcement and communities have a mutual responsibility and should work together to make a concerted effort to recruit diverse police departments.
10. We believe de-escalation training should be required to ensure the safety of community members and officers. We endorse using de-escalation tactics to reduce the potential for confrontations that endanger law enforcement officers and community members; and the principle that human life should be taken only as a last resort.
