“2020 was the year of uncertainty and chaos, and it had people on edge,” Ledford said. Though the year put a strain on many, it did help officers figure out new ways of working with the community, Ledford said. As mandates came to socially distance and restrict gathering sizes, Ledford and his team looked for different ways for officers to connect with a community. Walks through neighborhoods, pop-up cookouts in different communities in the city and arranging meetings with community partners, weren’t tools they could rely on during COVID-19. Officers relied on phone calls, Zoom meetings and digital ways to connect, but it wasn’t the hands-on community policing that Ledford has championed during his tenure as chief.