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Wichita Police, Mayor React To Dallas Shootings

Sean Sandefur
/
KMUW
Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell and Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay.

Wichita’s mayor and police chief are offering sympathy and support to the Dallas law enforcement community following last night’s deadly police ambush at a peaceful rally over recent police-involved shootings of two African-American men.

Mayor Jeff Longwell extended condolences to grieving communities and said public safety is the No. 1 priority in Wichita.

Police Chief Gordon Ramsay said it’s been an emotional few days for his department. He called it a tough time to be a police officer.

"I think that it’s important that we support our police officers and recognize that we have millions and millions of contacts with citizens in this city alone every year and the use of force is just used a fraction of the time," he said.

Ramsay said the department will continue working on their goal of building positive relationships with all groups in the community. He says nearly all Wichita police officers now use body-worn cameras so any citizen complaints about police interactions will be investigated.

The Kansas Highway Patrol will honor the Dallas victims by wearing a black mourning band across badges through Sunday, July 17.

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Follow Deborah Shaar on Twitter @deborahshaar.

To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

Deborah joined the news team at KMUW in September 2014 as a news reporter. She spent more than a dozen years working in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Ohio, West Virginia and Detroit, Michigan. Before relocating to Wichita in 2013, Deborah taught news and broadcasting classes at Tarrant County College in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.