KILLEEN, Texas — There was no escaping the momentous impact of the Killeen City Council vote Tuesday night to ban No Knock Warrants by the Killeen Police Department moving forward.
"It's a big day. This is something that we've got a lot of feedback, both locally and from around the country," said Killeen Mayor Jose Segarra on Wednesday. "It's something big for our city and whether you're for it or against it, I think it worked out."
Mayor Segarra said he has confidence in the vote and noted the department hasn't used the tactic in over a year.
"They're trying to work without having to do that and I think they'll be able to do that, so, we'll see what happens but they'll be able to make those adjustments and still do the job that they need to do," he said.
Reshard Hicks, a co-founder of a local group called "Let's Move Killeen" said this isn't anti-police but more of a hope to come together for a greater cause.
"We're saying we want to be one. We want to be a part of you guys, we want to help you. We are living in the community so let us help you in our community," Hicks said.
He said the decision by the council is a step in the right direction, with a bigger goal in mind.
"It means that we can save lives both on the civilian side and on the protective side," Hicks said.
Hicks agreed with the sentiment made by more than one council member on Tuesday night that one life lost is too many.
"With one life lost, you have to think about the trickle-down effect," he said. "You lose the city's trust in their law enforcement. There's more than just one thing involved and more than one thing effected when we lose one life."
Mayor Segarra said the will of the people and the will of the council was heard last night following a near-unanimous vote, 6-1.
"It's the will of the people, it's the will of the council and we're just going to have to make adjustments so it never gets to that point where we regret any decision we make," he said.
Mayor Segarra said the conversations had with Killeen Police Chief Charles Kimble gave the council the confidence to vote how they did.
"Chief Kimble did not say, 'No Mayor, we can not do without this, we need this in our toolbox. No, he says its good to have in our toolbox, it's a tool we can use, but if we didn't have it, we're still going to be able to do our job," Mayor Segarra said.
Hicks called the vote on Tuesday the first victory of, hopefully, many and said he'll celebrate it by not quitting what they started.
"We celebrate by not stopping, we got more missions to accomplish and more goals we got to get through," he said.