MADISON COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) – Police officers and policing have been in the news recently, and not in the most positive light.

Tim Gann, the Madison County Chief Deputy Prosecutor, was an officer for 15 years prior to holding his current position. Gann worked for the Huntsville Police Department for four years on the street, before moving to the K-9 unit for the next decade and spent five of those years attached to the SWAT team.

Gann has also prosecuted police officers, so he’s been on both sides of this topic.

He joined Leadership Perspectives to discuss policing, recent negative news surrounding police, and how bad events involving police shed a bad light on all officers.

“You look at these kind of incidents, and you know the nature of police work is violent, and that separates police officers from everyone else, is their ability and their willingness to deal with violence on almost a daily basis,” Gann said. “So there are going to be times when it looks, it looks real bad. And sometimes those things are justified and sometimes they’re not. And you know that’s why we have the justice system, and you look at instances like George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and even this incident in Memphis. The system is working. These officers face prosecution, they get treated fairly, they have a jury coming in…So I see it both ways.”

Gann also talks about bodycam footage and the difference it makes and addresses fear in the black community when it comes to law enforcement because of incidents like ones in the news recently.

To hear Gann’s full conversation with Steve Johnson about policing, you can watch the interview in the video player at the top of this page.