By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — As the son of a police chief, Kansas First District Congressman Dr. Roger Marshall is clear where he stands on police behavior.
"The death of George Floyd was horrible," Marshall said. "It was just a tragedy. My dad set the bar so high for his police officers. He expected so much out of them. Frankly, he did for his children, as well. These police officers involved in the Floyd case, this fell well below. They committed a crime. They need to be dealt with justly and swiftly. On the other hand, I think 99% of the men and women in blue do a great job. They have great hearts."
It's important to the community that they have the right people committed to serving on police forces.
"Could the police officers use more screening and training? Absolutely," Marshall said. "I mean, not going to the firing range. I mean psychosocial training skillsets."
The Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center near Yoder is the place where most Kansas officers would get such training. Marshall wants to keep the decisions about community police forces at the local level, as much as possible.
"There's tough things that these officers have to do," Marshall said. "They put their lives on the line every day. They have to make split-second decisions here, so I'm going to support our police officers. I believe in a nation of law and order and our local officials are the ones that need to control that law and order."
Marshall is against the idea of defunding the police. In fact, he'd like to see more resources put into community policing and training to be sure that officers know how they should act and react in heightened situations.