Grand Junction Police Chief Doug Shoemaker didn’t have to publicly condemn the events in Minneapolis that led to the death of George Floyd.

He could have kept silent and let the events speak for themselves. Wrong is wrong after all. Nobody needed to hear from the chief that Floyd’s death could have been prevented. Anyone who has seen the viral video of the Minneapolis police officer with his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight agonizing minutes understands that.

Yet, the series of tweets that Shoemaker posted on Friday offer some comfort and reassurance that we have a strong, decent professional at the helm of our city police department committed to doing a tough job the right way – with “compassion and care for all.”

“We as a profession must own this,” Shoemaker tweeted. “And when cops do bad things, other cops must call it out. We are better than this.”

Floyd’s death has sparked nationwide protests against police brutality. Local protests haven’t taken a dark turn toward looting, violence and property damage as elsewhere, and on Sunday Shoemaker was quick to thank his officers and the protesters for keeping things peaceful over the weekend.

It was a reinforcement of Shoemaker’s earlier message that effective policing is a relationship between officers and the people they serve – built on trust.

On Friday, Shoemaker said he was “angry and saddened” by police officers who join the force “to exert power they think they have over those they serve. Not only is this not OK, it’s criminal. I don’t want you in my profession, so if you’re a cop and these words anger you, too bad.”

Calling out thuggish behavior by police officers is easy to do. The words have the potential to ring hollow if not backed by action. Shoemaker gets this. Serving as the chairman of the Professional Standards, Ethics and Image Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police hasn’t hurt, but Shoemaker followed up his Friday tweets condemning police brutality with a commitment to make Floyd’s death mean something.

“We have to look at everything all over again and make changes,” he tweeted Sunday. “We have a tremendous opportunity and responsibility to make something good out of this.

“To my fellow law enforcement brothers and sisters – if you’re not looking at how we can improve how we police, you’re not listening. Start conversations that lead to more than rhetoric. If you don’t have those relationships now, build them. Listen and then lead by example.”

Shoemaker did that, meeting with Colorado Mesa University head football coach Tremaine Jackson and former CMU athlete turned mortgage broker Ky Oday – both African Americans – to create a model of improved relations between the police department and the public “as human beings who have respect and empathy for one another.”

Time will tell if Shoemaker’s efforts pay off. But it says something that he’s making an effort at a time when his department isn’t even under the microscope. That’s a hopeful sign that the events in Minneapolis will never occur here.