- So what is the situation on
the ground with practicing
cops, those still responding
and engaging and making
decisions?
For that, we go to Green Bay
and check in with the chief of
police there, Adam Smith.
And Chief, thank you so much
for being here.
- You're welcome. Glad to be
here.
- So I have read that you
intend a refresher course
for your officers in the use
of force in the wake of what
happened in Minneapolis.
How important do you believe
that kind of regular training
is for your officers?
- I think it's critical.
I think our officers need to
know what their job is.
They need to know what the
rules are for their job.
And we already started that.
We met with all of our
supervisors just last week.
And we all sat down.
We went over the Minnesota incident.
We had our use of force
trainers there.
And the expectation is that
every officer will receive a
refresher on what happened
in Minneapolis, what our
policies say and what our
expectations are for our
officers.
- Do your officers use methods
like holding handcuffed
suspects down
on their necks?
- No.
That's specifically prohibited
by our policy.
We do not do that.
- And so if you had a refresher
on use of force, what were
the kind of most cogent
takeaways from that
for your officers?
Well, we gave them a kind of a
little bit of an overview about
why we're able to use force,
under what situations force is
appropriate.
But also we talked about
the officer override.
If you see another officer
using force that's unauthorized
or misapplying force,
we believe it is the
responsibility of those
officers to stop that from
happening.
And that was reiterated along
with the basic rules of, you
know, you don't put your knee
on someone's neck.
You don't put them down to the
ground and hold them down
pinned like that.
And if somebody is gasping for
air or calling for help, you
take that as a serious, a
serious incident and needs to
be acted on.
- You also say that law
enforcement has a long way to
go in terms of accountability.
How so?
- Well, I think, you know, it's
a tough job out there and
there's a lot of great officers
doing great work every day, but
I think that we all come across
the bad apple that you hear
about. We come across officers
who have a long history
of getting in trouble.
And I think it's awful tough to
fire someone, quite frankly,
that needs to be fired here in
Wisconsin.
And so I think it's incumbent
upon the chiefs of police
to make sure that they are
holding their officers
accountable at all levels.
And I think the chief needs to
be held accountable, too.
We have a civilian police and
fire commission here in Green
Bay that holds me accountable.
But I think across the board
and across the country,
accountability for officers
is lacking. And it's really,
really tough to fire a bad
officer.
- You marched with protesters
in your city last weekend.
What was that like?
- Well, it's not the first time
I've marched with protesters.
Coming from Los Angeles, I've,
I've done that many times, but
I was, I was quite happy to be
invited into the protest when
they asked me to march with
them. And of course, I
did. And what really
I wanted to do was have the
opportunity to listen to
people, to hear what they say,
to hear what they're concerned
about. I understand their anger
and I understand their frustration,
but I really want to hear it
from the people that were
marching. You know
what's on your mind?
What can we do better as a
police department here in Green Bay.
- Before that, you commented
about how George Floyd died
saying it sickened you and it
was one of the most horrible
things that you had ever seen.
While reading your statement
and you
know about how you marched with
the protesters, we also
came upon an
article. And it gives me kind
of no pleasure to raise this
about a family whose loved one
was killed by police bullets in
your city.
And they called you out for
your hypocrisy, saying, "We're
outraged and deeply offended
that you would use this time of
tragedy to make
those statements. " Saying
that your department is not at
fault, they said, for the same
unjust actions that have
occurred to George Floyd's
family.
What is your, what is your
comment on that?
- Well, first of all, there's a
lawsuit pending, so I can't
speak about any specifics of
that cases.
But these are two completely
different cases.
This one has already been
reviewed. The one in Green Bay
has already being reviewed by
the district attorney's office
who declined to press any
charges, of course.
So there are two very different
cases. I understand that family
is very upset.
But again, there's
a lawsuit pending.
I really can't talk about any
specifics of that.
- All right. Well, Chief, we
really appreciate you joining
us. And we wish you and
your city well.
Thank you so much.
- Great. Thank you.