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Special Commission for Safe Communities presents 29-page plan and council signals support to continue work
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Summary
Dr. Scott Denton, chair of the Special Commission for Safe Communities, presented the commission's 29-page final report to the Bloomington City Council on Oct. 27 after two years of study. The report focused on prevention, data collection and interagency coordination, and the council asked staff to return with language to continue the commission or form a task force to implement the recommendations.
Dr. Scott Denton, chair of the Special Commission for Safe Communities, presented the commission's 29-page final report to the Bloomington City Council on Oct. 27 after two years of study. The report, Denton said, focused on prevention, data collection and interagency coordination rather than criminal-justice responses. "We made no recommendations in that regard," Denton said, referring to constitutional or second-amendment issues.
The commission offered eight interlinked recommendations, Denton said: expand community-group collaboration and data collection; promote secure gun storage and distribution of gun locks and consider buyback programs; gather youth perspectives and support school-based prevention programs such as restorative justice and social-emotional learning; strengthen suicide-prevention efforts (including attention to middle-aged males and veterans); bolster domestic-violence protections and enforcement of protective orders; form multidisciplinary working groups; invest in local mental-health services; and continue the commission's work or create a standing task force to monitor progress.
Denton cited local incident figures: "21, confirmed shots fired in 2025. 9 people have been shot and 5 killed by gunfire," and noted that the commission tracked patterns including suicides, accidental shootings and spontaneous incidents. He said the commission found missed warning signs in some cases and identified gaps in secure storage and enforcement when firearm-owner identification (FOID) privileges are revoked.
The report, Denton said, relies on data and testimony from community partners and criminal-justice agencies; it lists contributors and appendices and, he recommended, should be made public. Key contributors he named included Illinois State University, Project Oz, Moms Demand Action, veterans' groups and Bloomington police staff.
Council members commended the commission's scope and attendance. Council Member Molly Ward said the report fulfilled a multi-year request from constituents and urged the council to act: "I would really love to see us as a council give voice to some of the areas that energize us the most, and then ask staff to come back with language that we can take action on," Ward said. Several council members, including Mosley, Scott and Hendrix, voiced support for continuing the work.
Mayor Brady and other council members asked staff to bring the matter back to a Committee of the Whole with proposed language on how the commission could continue or transition into an ongoing body. No formal ordinance or vote to re-create the commission took place at the meeting; council members directed staff to return with options and specific language for future action.
The commission's final report, Denton said, contains data tools, charts and a list of individuals and organizations that provided input. He urged the council to monitor the eight recommended areas and to consider making the report public.
The council did not adopt new regulations at the Oct. 27 meeting. Instead, members expressed broad support for maintaining the commission's momentum and asked staff to draft next steps for the council's consideration.
