BELOIT, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) -- One Rock County law enforcement agency is speaking out about the role its officers play in race relations. 

A little more than a month ago, Beloit Police chief David Zibolski and captain Andre Sayles took a knee with protesters outside the department. 

"Our community asked us to kneel with them and we stood in solidarity with them," Sayles says.

The two say the agency is committed to continuing diversity efforts with minority hires. BPD also puts a heavy focus on implicit-bias training for staff and holds "Courageous Conversations." These are special meetings set up for both officers and the public to discuss tough topics. 

But, even with all this, and a strong relationship with Beloit's Black Lives Matter group, Zibolski acknowledges that the process is not an easy one.

"The cops are stressed; the community is stressed because of the long-standing concerns and issues they [the public] have brought to light," Zibolski says. "And realizing that there are also racial disparities that we continue to deal with."

Sayles says he made his mind up to become an officer in his youth after he was racially profiled as a teen in Aurora, Illinois. He decided he would change policing from the inside out when he joined BPD 16 years ago.

“I’m a Black man first and my name is Andre; I’ll get to the professional Captain Sayles later, but I want them [the public] to understand that I understand who they are and I want them to understand who I am before we get into a conversation where we talk about this," he says.

Sayles says since the two ranking officers took the knee more than a month ago with protesters, the city demonstrations have remained peaceful.