HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Protesters are marching all over Central Georgia against violence and injustice against African Americans including George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
But what comes after the protests?
Essence Hunter gathered nearly 200 people in Warner Robins and Centerville to march down Watson Boulevard.
"I was honestly amazed at how many people showed up," says the 18-year-old.
Hunter says moving forward, she would like to see more education in officers' training.
"I feel like it should be a part of training, like a briefing just specifically on racism and how to deal with it and how to deal when your partner is racist, how to calm them down."
Hunter says she wants to use her platform to encourage people to vote and get involved by going to city council meetings.
"I think it accomplished the idea that just because we're in a small town doesn't mean we can't make a difference."
Centerville Police Chief Chuck Hadden was at the march on Tuesday blocking traffic for the group.
"The police officer in me, I want to make sure they are protected.You know, the jaw-jacking from the people driving by who may say stuff, may throw stuff," says Hadden. "The other side of it was me as a citizen of Houston County. I want to show my solidarity to them."
He says moving forward comes down to two things.
"I think it's education. It's education on our behalf as police officers and it's also communication with the community."
Warner Robins Police Chief John Wagner says it starts with an open dialogue and he feels like he has had that with some of the protesters over the last few days.
"Some of them wanted to know about the hiring process, how that went on. Some of the different laws, how they're applied, what our training is," says Wagner.
He says his department also makes an effort to humanize themselves and build relationships in the community with things like the Citizen's Police Academy and a variation of community events.
Hadden says he had a protester approach him about setting up a citizen review board in the county, and he says that could be a good thing.
"What that does is that opens the doors to law enforcement. You have great transparency when you do that. Nobody can say that you're trying to cover up or protect your own," he says. "They would be able to see kind of behind the curtain of what we’re doing, the procedures that we go through, to take actions on bad behavior from law enforcement."
Dublin Police Chief Tim Chatman says he is frustrated that situations like the one in Minneapolis essentially negate all the good work they have done in the community.
"One bad apple, well, multiple... it's not just one, but that situation that happened in Minneapolis, it really evaporated... it wiped the slate clean, no matter what was done in our community. Now, you find yourself starting over," says Chatman.
He says his department has done things like mentoring, reading programs and acting as an employment agency.
"After all of that, the question is, 'Where do we go from here?' Build the platform, number one, for law enforcement to reassure the community that you are not that type of police department that's being shown all over the country."
He says it starts at the head and making the sure the training is there.
"Setting up a table just for the moment and acting like it will go away, that is not the answer. You gotta sit down and make your policies plain for people to understand. For example, deescalation was not done in Minneapolis. That officer standing there should have went and intervened," says Chatman. "We've trained in Georgia, we know what that is, and so you gotta make sure you're carrying it out. Being trained is one thing, but carrying it out is another."
He says it's all about transparency and building a platform to listen.
"There's a lot of work to be done. We have to start somewhere and listen on every side to make sure everybody has a voice."
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