Dallas Chief of Police Renee Hall is clear on where she stands regarding the use of force that led to the death of George Floyd, a man who died while being restrained during an arrest in Minneapolis.
“When you see the video there are so many emotions that run through me,” Hall said. “Our entire police department and command staff stand with Chief (Medaria) Arradondo and his decision to terminate.”
Hall condemned the actions of the four Minneapolis police officers terminated after Floyd's death.
“I stand with the rest of my colleagues and major city chiefs and we all agree that this behavior should not be tolerated, and it does not represent who we are,” she said.
She’s one of many North Texas police chiefs speaking out against the officer’s actions after watching a graphic video of Floyd on the ground with an officer’s knee on his neck for several minutes.
Irving Chief of Police Jeff Spivey said the video speaks for itself.
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“This is flat wrong. There’s nothing you can say. There’s nothing you can show me. There’s nothing you can do that can ever justify what happened here,” he said.
Spivey said he wondered how the officers involved got to the point where they felt the action taken was acceptable.
“Is it a failure of leadership? Is it a failure of who we’re hiring? Is it a failure of how we’re training our people?" Spivey asked. "Or is it just the fact that we hire from the human race and sometimes we don’t always get it right and we hire bad people?”
Fort Worth Chief of Police Ed Kraus joined the conversation on Twitter and said this has happened far too many times.
Rockwall Chief Max Geron said the death of George Floyd was a stain on the profession and could not be justified.
Spivey and Hall both said while the actions are inexcusable and that change must happen from within.
They also said the actions of these and other officers and violent interactions with black people caught on tape are not a representation of the profession.
“There are 18,000 police departments in this country. Over 800,000 members of law enforcement throughout this country and that’s not representative of us at all,” Hall said.
Hall said she knows painful conversations are happening, especially in black families. She said she heard similar conversations in her household growing up.
“I grew up having a brother in a black home and my mother having to have that talk," she said. "And my prayer was that one day black and brown people around the country would not have to have that talk."
“We can train. We can educate. And we can produce police officers who represent the entirety of our community,” she said.
NBC 5 asked the Dallas Police Department about its policy on chokeholds to restrain individuals. They said the chokehold has been prohibited in the department for several years.
As for the incident in Minneapolis, the FBI has been called in to investigate.
