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Hastings does track officer activities for red flags to ensure the officers mental health and there are evaluations done. There are also programs available for officers to receive help either for peer support or with experts. Dakota County has a program they call “a check up from the neck up” where they are evaluated once a year. Witt added, “For a long time where law enforcement didn’t feel like it was ok to say ‘hey that really bothered me’ and the platform is out there now, the avenues are out there now for people to seek help and it’s more accepted. That’s huge.”

The whole night presented a lot of great information regarding how our local law enforcement agencies expect their officers to perform and how they are held accountable to that expectation. They want the people of Hastings to trust them, they want everyone in Hastings to feel safe, regardless of skin color. Currently, HPD is rolling out an updated policy manual that is 550+ pages long. Think about that, 550+ pages of a policy manual. Could you actively remember the company policy manual for where you work right now?

The whole event officially lasted an hour and a half, but people stayed after and had their own mini group discussions. There were roughly 60 people in the audience on a lovely Tuesday night, including several local officials.

Hastings Community television was there to cover the event and has the video on their Facebook page and YouTube Channel. The “Thrive in Hastings MN” Facebook page also has links to the video as well as additional photos contributed by the Hastings Journal as well as those in attendance.