By ROD ZOOK
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Leaders of various churches in the city along with Hutchinson Police Chief Jeff Hooper gathered for a roundtable discussion before a large number of area residents Tuesday night. The meeting was a follow up to the peaceful protest held Sunday at the Reno County Courthouse. The event was sponsored by the local NAACP.
Hooper started by making it clear that the actions that led to the death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer will not be tolerated in Hutchinson.
“If officers under my leadership can not follow our core values and can not treat this community right and serve them, I’ll fire them,” Hooper said.
Hooper took most of the questions from the crowd. One of the questions surrounded the issue of law enforcement carrying firearms.
“The part of that question that saddens me is that they equate carrying a gun to power. Because in my opinion, that leads to fear,” Hooper said. “I hope that we can earn enough trust in our community to understand that carrying a firearm should not be about power.”
Pastor Charles Crumble of the New Resurrection Ministries says the amount of distrust among African American citizens and police starts early.
“We have to comfort our young brothers and sisters because eighty percent of the time, they’ve already been mistreated,” Crumble said. “They’ve already been out in the street, they’ve already been profiled. So when they come to us they are already beaten and broken.”
Crumble also stressed that there is love in the church but there is also a division that needs to be addressed.
“I believe there’s enough love in the church that it can overflow into the streets,” Crumble said. “There’s so much division in the church, there’s so much division between the churches. How can love overflow from the churches and reach the community when we all can’t stand together?”
Hooper said that the police department and community members need to have continuous dialogue and answers. Hooper said that the department needs to learn from the African-American community in the city to have a better relationship. Hooper went on to say that he will hold the department to a higher standard.
Other participating ministers also spoke of how modern-day issues of race, creed, and sexual preference are dividing the church and the church needs to come together to address racism and other issues.