GREEN BAY, Wis. – Calls for police reform haven’t been lost on various police departments across Wisconsin working to change their policies and procedures from lessens learned throughout the George Floyd saga.

Green Bay Police Commander Kevin Warych says his department has certainly made changes in the last year to update how it serves the city.

“If we’ve learned [anything] in the last couple years, transparency is crucial to earning communities’ trust, and we have to ensure that we do that in every contact, everything we do, people want and we want that mutual respect,” Warych says.

He says as part of that mission, the department has outfitted officers with body-worn cameras. They’ve also posted their use of force policy on the department’s website for the public to review. They’re steps found on the list of recommendations the Wisconsin State Assembly’s bipartisan racial disparities task force announced Wednesday to address policing concerns in the state.

“When you go through all the individual recommendations you can see internally in the police department that we’re doing them. We banned chokeholds […] we have a lot of things in the hiring process that the task force recommends," Warych says. "So it’s very encouraging to see that the Green Bay Police Department is doing a lot of the things they recommend."

The department also has two dedicated trainers that regularly train officers on use of force, de-escalation, implicit bias, and human dignity. Warych says this training is important because “we need to make sure that we get it right […] every single time.”

Warych says he believes the country is experiencing a transitional phase in policing. He wants all law enforcement agencies to take advantage of the opportunity.

“Now is time; community engagement, community trust, community respect," he says. "If police agencies aren’t doing that, they’re going to have a hard time moving forward."