By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Police Chief Chris Connally says he has been in talks with those protesting locally in wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
Connally says he has been talking with various groups for years, including the NAACP and the MidCity Excellence Community Learning Center in an effort to reach out. But he says there is always room for improvement.
“A lot of those folks I’ve spoken to have experienced some type of racism in the community,” Connally tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “So, they want to see things improve. That’s a good thing. We all want to see things improve.”
Connally says St. Joseph police officers are trained against bias, including implicit bias.
Connally says the key to addressing the concerns of people demonstrating for police reform is to see people as individuals, not as members of various categories.
“You’ve got to see people as people and if you are around each other, you know each other, you recognize each other as persons,” according to Connally.
Connally says the department will work to keep its focus on its vision.
“Our vision is for St. Joseph Police Department to be known for excellence in policing,” Connally says. “We say this will be accomplished through training, innovation, and exceeding expectations. Well, all these things we talk about, if you are going to accomplish those things you’ve got to constantly be striving. Our vision is what we are always striving for.”
The St. Joseph Police Department mission statement also comes into play, according to Connally, who notes the mission statement is protection, service, and partnership.
Connally is receptive to listening to those who so far have stuck with peaceful protests in St. Joseph. He says he knows many of them, because he has worked with them over the years.
Still, some of the rhetoric growing out of the nation-wide protests is contradictory, according to Connally.
“On the one hand, we want everyone to be treated exactly the same for the same crime,” Connally says. “But, if you’re coming from the treatment or the rehabilitation end, then we want to treat them as individuals based on individual needs and treat them differently based on those needs.”