By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Police Chief Chris Connally says most professional police departments have incorporated the practices called for in wake of the death of George Floyd while in custody.
Floyd, a black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck to pin him to the pavement.
Connally says much of the protest in wake of the Floyd death as well as other questionable deaths is off base.
“Not everything is well thought out,” Connally tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “I think every community has to look at the department. I think most of the reforms, significant reforms, that I have heard with use of force policies and things like that, most certified agencies or accredited agencies already do most of those things. There’s a lot of talk about things that have been in place for years and years.”
Connally says rather than calling for the defunding of police, the call should be to fund more police training and providing enough money to retain good police officers.
Connally says many of the cases raised as examples of police brutality are not being placed in perspective.
“And I think in a lot of cases that I see across the country the perspective of law enforcement or some of the evidence-based facts in law enforcement are in some cases being ignored,” according to Connally.
Connally says issues need to be taken care off on the community level.
“We have to look at our community and other communities have to look at their communities,” Connally says, “and you get the level of policing that you demand and that you’re willing to pay for and that’s important, too.”