HARTFORD, Conn. — Police departments across the country and in Connecticut have responded to the guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial.
Many agreeing the verdict was fair and promising action for their communities.
“Everybody was on the same side, and we all knew it was completely wrong, no excuse for it and the verdict was a just one,” Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody said.
Thody said it was not difficult to see former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin taken away in handcuffs in court Tuesday -- guilty on all three charges for the death of George Floyd.
“In the George Floyd case as people, we all looked at that and watched a human being, watched the life drain out of a human being over the course of 9 minutes and that's despicable,” Thody said.
Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said he’s been following the case since the death of Floyd, the arrest of Chauvin and now the guilty verdict.
“It's been a very tense week for our country, for our community,” Spagnolo said.
Many activists said the verdict is just one step forward and that the fight for racial equality and justice must continue and fundamental to the fight are the state’s police departments.
“It’s a just verdict but what took us so long? Is it the case only if we have a killing viewed live by millions that leads to demonstrations in the cities, only then, can we realistically hope to see justice?,” Attorney and activist John Williams said.
“People feel justice has been served, we certainly feel justice has been served and it’s going to open up opportunities and doors for police departments across the country to start the healing process for the communities that we serve,” Spagnolo said.
Late last summer the police accountability bill was passed during a special session in the heat of social justice rallies and protests across the country.
Police departments said they’re working through implementing those new procedures.
“The city of Waterbury has 300 sworn officers, if you look at the urban areas in the state, there's well over a thousand officers that need to be trained, that's a daunting task, we just want to make sure we get it right,” Spagnolo said.
The Hartford Police Department said an effort to improve community policing in the city, they are working on recruiting residents to become officers.
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