It's easy for citizens to complain about their community, the way it’s governed and the way it’s policed. Complaints often go unheard and seem to go nowhere, they have no real benefit except for blowing off steam.

As part of their community policing outreach, Sioux City Police hold a town hall meeting, once a year the Police Department puts together a presentation on a current topic, has speakers and provides statistics on crime in the community from the previous year.

Before the meeting wraps up, community members are encouraged to meet with local law enforcement officers who work their neighborhoods and provide feedback on concerns they have, issues that don’t seem to be getting resolved and ask questions.

This year the police will be doing a presentation on the Myths and Realities of Police Use of Force. It will discuss training, tactics, and laws regarding police use of force as well as misinformation regarding fatal police encounters. The department will also be asking attendees what their priorities should be in the coming year.

We sat down with Lieutenant Pat Breyfogle from the Sioux City Police Department to discuss the town hall meetings, what the goal of them is, what they get out of them, how they got started and why the community should take part. We've posted our entire interview with minimal editing. (It was 7 mins and we cut it down to just over 6 minutes).

For those that can’t make it Siouxland Scanner will be live streaming the event, we encourage everyone that can to attend. The meeting will be at the Sioux City Public Museum, located at 607 4th St, in Sioux City on April 20th, and starts at 7:00 p.m.