Green Bay Police Department seal (PHOTO/WTAQ News)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Green Bay Police’s violent crime task force has been active for the past few weeks in response to an uptick in shootings in the city.
Police Commander Kevin Warych says officers have been hitting the streets, gathering intel and forging relationships as part of the department’s approach to community policing.
“We’re not over-policing neighborhoods, we’re there to make sure that people know who the officers are in the neighborhoods,” Warych told WTAQ. “To make sure that there’s a mutual respect, so that everybody feels comfortable talking to everybody.”
Warych says that can give police the relationships and wherewithal to prevent potential problems–and then solve those problems and hold people accountable when they occur.
They hope to start conversations about alternative ways to solve disputes, other than violence.
“The message for the community is you should have these conversations with your friends, your children, people that you know; that there are alternative ways to get things done,” said Warych.
There have been 30 shots fired reports in the city of Green Bay in 2021, significantly higher than at this same time last year.
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