The last two years have been a challenging time for our city and our nation.  We cannot ignore or downplay the work that needs to be done.

We must stay vigilant as we work with community partners to improve the lives of every resident of our city.  That begins with a broad focus on social equity and increasing access and opportunity for all of our fellow citizens.

We must also give police officers the skills and resources they need to succeed in a difficult, stressful, and often dangerous job.  And, we must pay them as well as any police department in the region. We simply cannot continue to spend precious public resources properly training our recruits, only to have those new officers move to higher-paying jobs elsewhere.

We need to improve the relationship between the police and the citizens they serve.  In order to do that, we must hire the highest quality candidates and provide training that focuses on best practices in community policing that builds trust among all of our neighbors.