It's been nearly a week since five police officers were fatally shot in Dallas during an otherwise nonviolent protest. It was the tragic endpoint to a week that also saw three highly publicized police shootings of black men in Brooklyn, Baton Rouge, and in the suburbs of St. Paul, Minnesota.

To get a sense of how law enforcement is reacting to the violence, WNYC spoke to James Shea, the Public Safety Director for Jersey City, N.J. where he oversees the police and fire departments. Before that, he was a deputy chief with the NYPD.

“It’s no surprise to anyone that the entire country is engaging in a conversation about policing now, talking about the way the country is policed in ways we haven’t done in the past. And the police officers are aware of it,” Shea said.

And while NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has been criticized for comments some said blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for the Dallas shooting, Shea said Bratton was referring to individuals who come to protest and don’t “have an interest in a productive solution, but … want to yell the loudest and want to cause problems.”

Jersey City is one of the many communities across the country that saw protests against police brutality in the days after the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.

“I’ve also been involved in many protests throughout my career and I know they attract people who are not the most productive people to be involved in that dialog sometimes and sometimes the dialog gets hijacked,” Shea said.

Reflecting on the deaths of police officers in the Sept. 11th attacks, in Dallas and the murder of Jersey City police officer Melvin Santiago, Shea said the police officers are committed to their jobs.

“The bottom line is people become police officers for a reason. And the reason doesn’t disappear because a tragedy occurs,” Shea said.

Shea spoke to WNYC’s All Things Considered Host Jami Floyd.