Green Bay Police Department seal (PHOTO/WTAQ News)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Closing arguments are expected in the Derek Chauvin trial in Minnesota today. Chauvin is the former Minneapolis Police Officer who was involved in the death of George Floyd, a black man, last year, setting off nationwide protests and riots.
Some of those protests and riots happened right here in Northeast Wisconsin. Green Bay saw two riots last year after police deaths elsewhere. Police Commander Kevin Warych says they’re working with community leaders to keep an eye on what’s going on.
“We want to know their concerns. We want to know their fears. We want to know their apprehensions and anxieties in their neighborhoods,” said Warych. “That’s our jobs, that’s what we do.”
He says that sort of community engagement is a crucial element of good police work.
“When things occur in the community we want to have relationships built prior to problems occurring,” said Warych. “We are continually in the community working with people to develop these relationships so that we can work through problems.”
“Without that we wouldn’t be engaged. We wouldn’t know what was going on,” Warych continued. “That’s why some of these problems are occurring around the nation, at least in my opinion.”
Local police also monitor social media ahead of any potential demonstrations.
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