Johns Creek Chief Wants His Officers To 'Set The Standard'

JOHNS CREEK, GA — Johns Creek Police Chief Chris Byers wrote on the department's Facebook page Monday to address the death of George Floyd, and how his department is responding.

"The officers of the Johns Creek Police Department are absolutely stunned and angered by the force used against him," Byers said. "The level of force was excessive and in no way reasonable, which is the standard that we are sworn to abide by. This former officer in no way represents law enforcement and the badge we wear."

The community has the right to voice their anger and indignation and demand justice for Floyd and his family, Byers said. However, he said he cannot "condone or begin to understand how the damaging of property and perpetrating more violence can bring about that justice."

"I can assure you that the video of Mr. Floyd and his treatment is not representative of law enforcement and especially not the Johns Creek Police Department and those in our neighboring area," Byers said. "We have seen countless officers thrust into harm’s way this weekend to restore order and protect those that are demonstrating their Constitutional right to protest and have their concerns addressed."

Byers said the Johns Creek Police Department trains extensively on the proper use of force and deescalation of situations with the hope that they never have to use force.

"When the rare situation requires us to use force to take someone into custody, we train to use the minimal amount of force necessary to resolve the situation while keeping both the well-being of the arrested and the officer in mind," Byers said. "We are an extremely open and transparent police department. We will continue to do so by hosting Citizens Police Academy's every year to bring our citizens into our doors and see how we conduct ourselves. We have a very active Community Services Unit that engages our citizens and business owners on all sorts of levels.

"Johns Creek is a very diverse community and I could not be more proud to serve as the chief of the Johns Creek Police Department and be a resident. We will always strive to 'set the standard' in policing as our mission statement says."

The department addressed Sunday night that it was monitoring the current situation happening around metro Atlanta.

"We are in constant communication with neighboring jurisdictions and our intelligence unit is actively monitoring social media conversations," the department wrote on Facebook. "We ask our residents to remain vigilant and to report anyone or anything that seems suspicious or out of the ordinary. We stand ready to protect our city and to address any emergency situation that may arise."

The day before, Sgt. Deb Kalish wrote on the department's Facebook page that they were "getting some calls from some of the residents with concerns for safety in the city."

"We are aware of unconfirmed communication that was put out on social media," Kalish wrote. "We have been in contact with all of our surrounding jurisdictions throughout the day and are ready to respond if necessary."

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