TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - Improving the relationship between the Toledo police department and the community was the theme of a Town Hall held by TPD and its advisory board held Monday night.
"Communications is everything. We could have the lowest crime rate in the state or the country and if the communications and the relationship isn't there between the police and the citizens we're still going to have issues," said Police Chief George Kral.
The meeting was held in Central Toledo, giving residents in that area a chance to voice their opinions.
When asked what police related issue or concern would make Toledo a safer place to live in, the audience mentioned reducing racial profiling, improving response times, and making the department more diverse.
"I just want to make sure that we're putting an emphasis on our police our patrolman that they actually reflect the community. And I'm talking about the racial breakdown. And I think that is very important."
Chief Kral says the department takes comment like these very seriously and they use the information to implement change and increase credibility.
"We'll take what we learned tonight, we'll go back next month when we have our regularly scheduled meeting and we'll say what can we do, what can we not do. And then we'll let the people know," said Chief Kral.
It's important to point out that chief Kral did talk about a lot of positive things already happening across the city during the meeting as well, including connecting with the youth and community involvement.
