GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Green Bay Police Chief Andrew Smith says officers used force on 163 people in 2019.
Decentralization, meaning taking someone to the ground, was the most common use of force.
Using a Taser was the second most common, followed pepper spray, according to Smith. He spoke to FOX 11….
“I’d always like to see our use of force numbers at zero, that means we got voluntary compliance every time we had to take someone into custody. Unfortunately I’m a realist and that doesn’t happen.”
Trainers laid out how officers learn about using force.
“If we can resolve, prevent or diffuse or avoid conflict, we can prevent violence,” a Green Bay officer said.
Chief Smith also took community questions and concerns.
“The question is are Blacks interacted with a lot more? And anecdotally looking at our statistics, I would probably say that is the case. Now why is that? You know what, I wish I had the right answer to that. And you know, that’s something that we’re working on. We’re looking at our statistics here in Green Bay, we’re looking at our statistics from last year to see if there’s some kind of training we can do or if there’s something we can do differently.”
And in regards to George Floyd’s death…
“I’m not trying to bring Minnesota Police Department into Green Bay Police Department, but I would assume those officer went through training too,” a community member said.
A Green Bay officer responded….
“In Wisconsin all of our ethics, the training students have to go through, that covers that. Officers shall intervene if they see something that doesn’t go right. Those officers shall. If not, they’ll be held accountable.”
So where does the city go from here? Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich tells FOX 11….
“The end goal really is to implement policies in response to what we’re hearing from the community. I think there are some reforms that the chief has in mind, some thoughts that I have as well. But it’s going to require community support, obviously support from our city council, to move those ideas forward.”
The next Green Bay Police Advisory Board meeting is tentatively scheduled for August at Divine Temple Church.
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