Ames Police Patrol Cmdr. James Robinson addressed a forum of police officers, community leaders and citizens Wednesday evening to put forth his plans for the acceleration of the Ames Police Department, student-police relations and outreach innovation, if he is given the position of police chief.

Robinson is a graduate of Upper Iowa University, as well as an FBI National Academy graduate. He has served the Ames community for more than 27 years, and in that time developed and implemented many civic policies to make Ames a safer place to live.

A key issue for the candidate is building trusting relations between students and the police department. Robinson was present for the riots of ’88, ’92, ’94 and ’04, and while he does not support underage admittance into bars, he would like to harvest more safe venues for students.

Robinson has served as a patrol officer, detective, sergeant, captain and commander in his near three-decade career with the Ames Police Department. He stressed the importance of recruiting more minorities and women – only four females currently serve on the department – and plans to work with Iowa State’s George Jackson, assistant dean of the graduate college, and Minority Student Affairs to target graduating students.

“We want to mirror our community,” Robinson said. “We will use our [minority] officers to help show that we are an inviting agency.”

Robinson has made major endeavors with the elderly community – a demographic he worries may be overlooked in a population composed of nearly 50 percent students.

“The elderly are sometimes a forgotten part of our community,” Robinson said. “We want to provide education to prevent them from being taken advantage of.”

Robinson has been engaged in an ongoing program that involves patrol officers visit independently living senior citizens, to celebrate their birthdays and just to have a cup of coffee.

He has also crafted the policy in which patrol units visit local hotels and convenience stores during late-night shifts to check in with the workers, promoting fellowship between the task force and the citizens.

Holly Fuchs of Ames has attended all of the forums and said choosing the best candidate will be difficult.

“They are all good,” Fuchs said. “They all want to reach out to the community.”

Robinson urged the importance of neighborhood walks, during which patrol officers walk through neighborhoods with zone representatives to identify issues such as problematic street lights, uneven sidewalks and unkempt yards.

“If you have an issue within our community or just want to have a cup of coffee, call me,” he said. “Our organization is too important and I want nothing but the best for our environment.”