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June 4, 2020
A Message from Kenmore Police Chief Moen:
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Like many of you, I watched the actions of the officers in Minneapolis during the arrest and resulting murder of George Floyd and was deeply disturbed. The video shows officers engaging in tactics and making decisions that are indefensible.
I want to assure the members of the Kenmore community that such conduct is not tolerated in our city. Kenmore officers receive extensive training in de-escalation and crisis intervention training, giving them increased skills on dealing with people undergoing a behavioral health crisis. Officers also train in defensive tactics, refreshing their skills on minimizing the amount of force used during an arrest, should force become necessary. A major emphasis within our training is the LEED principle- Listen and explain with equity and dignity. We work to use this concept in every single contact we have with the community.
Kenmore officers also attended a day of Implicit Bias training in 2019 and 2020 taught by Dr. Bryant Marks from Morehouse College. This training focused on implicit biases that are often hidden, as well as stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and specifically their impacts on communities of color.
We work closely with the King County Sheriff’s Office for increasing amounts of police accountability and transparency. This includes detailed and multi-level scrutiny of any reportable use of force used by Kenmore officers (though uses of force in Kenmore were minimal in 2019 and 2020 thus far).
Please know that the actions of the officers in this incident do not reflect the values of the officers that work hard to protect the Kenmore community. The Kenmore Police Department consists of 14 commissioned members. When police officers in other departments do something as egregious as occurred in Minneapolis, it reflects upon all of us in the law enforcement profession. It saddens me that this erodes at the trust we have built and the partnerships we form in our community here, I also know it highlights deeper, systemic problems that we as a collective society need to have the courage and commitment to solve.
Kenmore Police Department continues to be here for you 24/7, keeping your community safe and dedicated to equality and fairness for all.
Brandon Moen
Chief of Police
City of Kenmore
Find the Kenmore Police on Facebook.
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