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St. Petersburg Police Chief Holloway hosts conversations with protesters

Chief says some progress was made inside and outside of St. Pete PD headquarters.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Another day of protests in the city followed a message of solidarity from its leaders, with Chief of Police Anthony Holloway meeting with some of the protesters several times the afternoon and early evening

And while some of the face-to-face conversations resulted in screaming rather than a back-and-forth dialogue, Holloway said he understood: Protesters are angry, and when they are ready, they will talk to him.

In the meantime, he brought between 15 to 20 leaders and community members in for a meeting.

Among them were some of the protesters, discussing ways to bring about change. 

“What we found out was that the people that were there, have also been in this march and they told us what we need to do, and how we can make it better," Holloway said. 

Keyont'e Howard stood outside during the nearly two-hour-long meeting and hopes change comes.

"It saddens me that we have not made any real progress," Howard said. "I am hoping that there are no more altercations with cops and black people that result in a needless death. 

"That’s my number one concern. I hope to have a healthy, long life. I hope to have children, wherever in the future. And I hope to live in peace. That’s really about it."

St. Petersburg Police was recently granted more than $3 million by the Department of Justice to further invest in community policing. The new grant will allow the department to hire 25 more officers, and it's an investment Holloway hopes will help better the relationship between the police department and the community.

“(We) allow the officers to get out of their vehicles to do these dialogues. I don’t want them running from call to call, I want them to be able to learn their community, their zone they’re in," he said. "So they can have conversations with people in the community.”

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