Galveston County police chiefs attend community forum on law enforcement

"George Floyd died senselessly in Minneapolis," said Pastor William Henry King III with Greater Hope Missionary Baptist Church. "We don't want a George Floyd happening anywhere in the United States but certainly not in Galveston County."

The Wednesday night community forum came about because the mother of a high school football star was worried about her son.

"With him being a big boy she was concerned about the profiling and him just being caught up in a situation and the situation with George Floyd and the things that happened in Minneapolis she asked myself as well as coach Snelser if there's something we can do," said Dr. Chad Rankin.

What they did is unprecedented.

"Never have we had all chiefs of police to the table to be able to speak to them directly," said King.

"Our country is in turmoil right now our country is hurting and that means our local communities are hurting," said Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady. "I believe it's important for us as leaders in the criminal justice system to hear what those concerns are."

"We're talking about community policing and we're talking about policies for use of force we're talking about programs to let our community know they're safe and the officers have been trained, Roady said.

Police cultural diversity and sensitivity training was also discussed.

"If there's a problem in our community we want to deal with it now and nip it in the bud we don't want things to get out of hand here we want to continue to bless this community and work together," Roady said.