Full Notification

This past Saturday, the YWCA of Rock County honored Chief David Moore and the Janesville Police Department the 2019 YWCA Racial Justice Award. The presentation came at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration at Blackhawk Technical College. A YWCA committee selects recipients annually to recognize those who embrace racial inclusion and equity. In addition to the YWCA’s award, Moore also received the UAW Local 95 Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Service Award.

“This is completely unexpected,” Moore said in an earlier interview about the YWCA recognition. “A police officer doesn’t receive this kind of an award too often. I hear of too many places where there is a rift between minority communities and the police.”

The award is not about him, he said.

“It’s an award for the police department, the officers, our community partners and liaison groups,” Moore explained. “Without their support and action, this kind of effort doesn’t go anywhere.”
The nomination for the YWCA award, made by local citizen Santo Carfora, highlighted the training all Janesville Police Department employees have received on fair and impartial policing, implicit bias, and procedural justice. These trainings emphasize treating people with respect, giving them a voice, listening to what they have to say and making fair decisions.

In addition to the trainings, the Department’s Latino Liaison and African American Liaison advisory committees were further reasons for the awards. The two committees and their members work to maintain the positive image of the Janesville Police Department throughout the community while ensuring that all community members with concerns regarding treatment based on race are able to be heard.

The department thanks both the YWCA and UAW for their recognition, the community partners that work with us to meet our goals of being a fair and transparent agency, and our employees who work diligently to police fairly and with respect for our citizens on a daily basis.