The Police Chiefs' Association of Montgomery County would like to express our heartfelt sympathies to the family of Mr. George Floyd.  Just like each of you, we witnessed the video of Mr. Floyd's death and were appalled by what we saw.  Police brutality, callousness, and failure to render aid are unacceptable in Montgomery County law Enforcement.  As an organization, we are committed to providing our members with the guidance to help establish rigorous officer selection processes, on-going use of force and de-escalation training, state and/or international accreditation, strict professional standards and citizens' complaint processes.  This guidance is provided to help all of our departments to achieve the highest level of professionalism.

While some may look at this video and believe that nothing has changed in policing, much has changed in Montgomery County.  Over the past several years our police departments have gone to great lengths to engage with the communities we serve.  These engagements are not merely public relations events, but meaningful and productive dialog with community members, community leaders, clergy and groups dealing with different forms of racial injustice.  Many of our Chiefs are board members in these groups and work diligently to reduce inequality in any form in our county.  In February of this year, our Executive Board met with the leaders of the Montgomery County Chapters of the NAACP to continue to improve the relationships between the police and the communities we serve.  We have also taken a strong stand against inappropriate conduct committed by officers and have made the sanctity of human life a guiding principle in our agencies.

As an association we join with you in your disgust of what you saw in that video, but we ask you to not let this incident destroy the progress that we have made here in Montgomery County.  We ask you to keep working with us to keep injustice and violence from our county.  As we all mourn the loss of Mr. Floyd, let us come together and continue to communicate so that we can keep fighting against racial injustice and make Montgomery County safe for all persons.  The police officers in Montgomery County take an oath to serve and protect all of our citizens, and never discriminate based on a person's race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.  Our officers have continuously shown that they are compassionate and caring individuals who are willing to sacrifice their safety for their fellow citizens.

Police Chief's Association of Montgomery County.