Tonight is the first of 13 community listening sessions scheduled with the Phoenix Police Department and other city staff, to give the public a chance to give their feedback to the Police Department.

They held these sessions last year as well. Cmdr. Tom Van Dorn says they’ve been planning these for months, but that holding the meetings now is timely.

"I do think it’s coming at a very important time, when dialogue is taking place with regard to the operations and the tactics that were used when the president was here in town, but by no means is it a direct result of that," Van Dorn said.

He said last year they received 15 recommendations from community members.

"One of the big things was continue to expand the body-worn camera program. The community wanting to see what the internal employee demographics were as it relates to the community we serve. They wanted more information with regard to critical incidents involving their police officers. So we’re happy to say the website now contains all those reports," he said.

Van Dorn says anyone can attend these meetings. The first is at Steele Indian School Park tonight at 6.

Now we’re going to check in with the Editorial Board at The Arizona Republic.

It’s a regular segment where we’ll talk about the big issues facing the state and the region — featured in the newspaper’s Viewpoints section.

A recent editorial defended the actions of the Phoenix Police Department during President Trump’s downtown rally, and it was critical of those who interrupted a Phoenix City Council meeting.

With me to talk about that and the challenges of the situation is Phil Boas, director of the Republic’s Editorial Department.