Kansas City, Kansas, leader forms task force on policing

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Wyandotte County's top elected official announced Monday that he's formed a task force to guide discussions between local law enforcement and the community following George Floyd's death.

Mayor and CEO David Alvey of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, will serve as co-chairman of the new task force, along with Unified Government Commissioner Harold Johnson. Alvey said he wants to improve the dialogue between law enforcement and the community, particularly black and Hispanic residents.

Alvey said the goal is to build trust between the community and law enforcement by identifying issues in policing.

“We must be willing to talk about hard issues: questions of excessive force, explicit and implicit bias, disparate treatment by law enforcement,” Alvey said in a statement.

The task force's members include Wyandotte County Sheriff Don Ash and interim Kansas City, Kansas, Police Chief Michael York.

Floyd's death May 25 in Minneapolis after he was detained by police has inspired protests across the U.S. against police brutality. Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died after a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air.