As more protests continue across the country in response to police brutality including the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Officer, some Iowa lawmakers are speaking out on the issue.

District 24 State Senator Jerry Behn of Boone agrees that everyone has the constitutional right to peacefully assemble and protest, and they have the right to address their government to redress grievances. He condemns what former officer Derek Chauvin did to Floyd, he shares his thoughts on the recent protests.

“If people want to protest over that and raise attention to it that’s fine. But it doesn’t do anybody any good and it doesn’t do the cause any good if you break windows, destroy buildings, set other things on fire, or ultimately end up killing somebody else.”

Behn hopes this one incident doesn’t cast a negative shadow on all law enforcement and adds most of the time police are there to protect and serve its citizens. He appreciates the work that the Des Moines Police Department did in handling some of the negative things that went on during their recent protests, which included the Capitol building.

“There is actually an increased police presence at the capitol and I think that’s all a good thing. So my hats off to the police, I’m sure that they have to unjustly suffer for the actions of this individual that were just, you cannot excuse anything that happened during that awful event.”

To hear more from Behn listen to Monday’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.