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Kendall County Sheriff: Floyd killing an abuse of police power

Oswego police chief says officers must hold each other to highest levels of professionalism, training

POST UPDATED AT 5:05 P.M. FRIDAY, MAY 29

Kendall County Sheriff Dwight Baird described the killing of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in Minneapolis May 25 as an "abuse of police power" in a statement issued Friday morning, May 29.

George Floyd, 46, died after pleading that he couldn't breathe as a police officer (Derek Chauvin) placed a knee on his neck and pinned him to the ground for seven minutes by the rear wheel of a squad car. The killing has sparked riots in Minneapolis that have led to the looting of stores and the burning of a police precinct, and demonstrations across the country.

Concerning the death of Floyd, Baird wrote: "In my 29 years of law enforcement and training, I have never seen such an abuse of police power as I did when I watched the video of George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis. Based on just the video I can see no justified reason for the actions of the police officer. This type of action has not, and will never be, tolerated at the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office."

Baird continued: "We are committed to providing education and training for our deputies to avoid an incident of this type in Kendall County. As such the culture of the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office is to be fair, unbiased, and to only use force that is reasonable and necessary. We ensure this through our long-standing policies and practices and a review of each use of force incident. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' The members of the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office stand committed to equal and fair treatment for all citizens."

Baird is among a growing number of law enforcement leaders throughout northeastern Illinois to comment on the killing of Floyd.

Oswego Police Chief Jeff Burgner was adamant that what he saw from law enforcement in Minneapolis did not match up with the training he has overseen in his time with the department.

“I think it’s important that our community knows that we train for use of force, for our response to resistance, we train them," Burgner said. "The things that I see, that I’m seeing, those don’t line up with the training I’ve seen. I think the general sentiment from the law enforcement that I’ve spoken to within my own organization and different levels within the ranks are very shocked and concerned with what we saw there.”

In the Floyd killing, officers present on the scene did not interrupt officer Derek Chauvin's lethal action.

“When I look at it I think it’s important that officers hold each other to the highest level of professionalism and they hold themselves to the highest level of their training and the trust that their communities expect from us and they deserve from us," Burgner said. "It’s our job to look at situations and when things go wrong and when things go extremely wrong, we need to be able to acknowledge that and we need to be able to react to that in a way that makes us better in the future.”

Burgner said that events like the killing of Floyd can be frustrating in that he believes it breaks down trust that law enforcement agencies work to build up.

"I say to our officers many times throughout the year that your community trusts and supports you and they have your back," Burgner said. "You know that from the way they treat us. It’s just like anything else. You earn trust just like we earn it from the community.”

Yorkville Chief of Police Jim Jensen came back to the word disturbed multiple times when describing what he witnessed in the video. He said as soon as he saw the video the first time he shook his head and lamented how bad it was.

"I’ve watched the video. I’m deeply disturbed by the video," Jensen said. "Putting your knee on someone’s neck is not something I’ve ever been trained to do and it’s not something we train our people to do so it’s extremely disturbing to me, but again there’s other facts that are there. That video only gives you one side of things, but I’m disturbed by what I saw."

Jensen said discussions within the department over the last few days have centered around officers' accountability not only for themselves, but for everyone affected by an adverse interaction between law enforcement and citizens.

"There's video cameras everywhere and when you do something that’s not professional or inappropriate, you can’t take that back and it’s out there," Jensen said. "Their actions have a direct impact not only on themselves and their families, and the organization and the city. We’re trying to stress to our folks that it ’s important, obviously, to make good decisions. You rely on your training, you focus on the situation at hand and how you treat people respectfully and professionally and understand your actions have consequences not just for yourself but for many, many other people.”

In assessing how trust is maintained between law enforcement agencies and the public, Jensen said he hopes that law enforcement agencies can build up enough credit and trust to maintain that among the public. He also said he knows there could be backlash based on what people have seen.

“One incident whether it’s your own organization or whether it’s national can ruin trust with some people," Jensen said. "If you continue to focus on your community policing, focus on your professionalism, you focus on communicating with the public, what you hope is our city, at least with the city of Yorkville — because we’ve tried to do good things, they understand how our department operates — that we’re not a bad agency, that we’re not an agency that’s going to do what this person or what this agency had done and hopefully you build that trust up so that they believe in your agency.”

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman issued a statement Friday decrying the killing of Floyd but also urged unity in the Aurora community and support for the city's police officers.

"Please stand with your Aurora Police Department because there is no us. There is no them. There is only we," she said.

Ziman's statement reads as follows:

"When I first watched the video of the Minneapolis officer, I didn’t need to wait for more information to come in. I didn’t need to wait for the investigation to conclude before I made an assessment. When you place your knee on the neck of a human being for over eight minutes – a human being who is handcuffed and pleading that he can’t breathe – there is no defense. George Floyd is a human being.

"To those who have said he was resisting: Resisting suffocation is not resisting arrest.

"People of color are outraged. White people are outraged. Any cop who doesn’t feel the same should get out of our profession.

"I awoke this morning to learn that a Minneapolis police precinct burned the to the ground.

"Then I learned that the window of an Aurora Police Department squad car had been smashed out.

"We cannot control what is happening around us, but we can turn to our own corner of the world and ensure that the culture in the Aurora Police Department is in alignment with valuing human life and the constitution. I see many chiefs sending out messages to their officers with a stern lecture about use of force. I want to do the opposite. I want to take this opportunity to thank every police officer in our city who acts with nobility and honors our sacred oath. I am so grateful to them for the professionalism and compassion that they display every day in the city of Aurora. The men and women in blue who serve our community are the best in the nation and I am saddened that they will be painted with a broad brush. But they understand that they represent all police officers and they shoulder that responsibility.

"The Training Division at APD focuses on scenario-based training and in every exercise, de-escalation is the first tactic. We include implicit bias training as part of our curriculum because we understand that what makes Aurora beautiful is our diversity.

"We have created a culture at APD where we stand with our officers when they are right and we part with them when they are wrong. We are not perfect and we make mistakes, but we police each other at every rank and we swiftly and thoroughly investigate any allegations of wrong-doing with transparency. Accountability builds professionalism.

"Finally, I am grateful for our Aurora citizens who support us. We vow to you that even in these trying times, we will remain loyal to you and our fellow man. It’s up to each and every one of us to keep our city safe.

"Please stand with your Aurora Police Department because there is no us. There is no them. There is only we."