MILAN, NM – Last weekend Milan Police Department participated in the national event Faith & Blue weekend to improve their relationship with the local community through multiple events such as a story time with the local students, providing supplies to the homeless population, a clean-up of the local parks and many other events to connect with the locals.
The national Faith & Blue weekend is a collaborative initiative that builds bridges and reduces biases by facilitating engagement between law enforcement professionals and the communities they serve. Over a four-day weekend each year, Faith & Blue consists of thousands of locally organized events in all 50 states. Some of the activities held during the weekend include community forums, service projects, unity marches, and hundreds of other initiatives that bring the community together in the spirit of reconciliation. In 2022, Faith & Blue had over three thousand engagements held across the United States in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and over 100 thousand weekend participants with 24 national law enforcement partners, over 750 local law enforcement partners and 65 state local enforcement partners.
This year the Milan Police Department participated in the national Faith & Blue weekend and had three engagements. The first engagement was a story time to the kindergarten class at Milan Elementary. The second engagement was a homeless outreach named Andrew “Wake Self” Martinez Homeless Outreach. The outreach is named after Andrew Martinez who was a local rapper and activist who was killed in a drunk driving accident in 2019. The Police Department partnered with Martinez’s brother Eric Martinez who is a local advocate and activist who speaks out against DWI, following his brother’s passing, The department also partnered with Cibola County Correctional Center Warden Mark Foreman who provided shoes and socks and other supplies to hand out to homeless individuals. The third engagement was a park clean-up with the officers going around Milan and cleaning up all the local parks in the area.
Police Chief Carl Ustupski said that these types of events give the opportunity for the department to connect more with the local community, which is greatly needed. He also said he was surprised that there are only a few agencies that are participating in the event in New Mexico and that he’s hoping by participating that more agencies in the area will follow their lead and participate in the coming years.
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