Lieutenant Steve Hauck of the Utica Police Department said things would most likely be different if a tragedy  like what's happening in Ferguson, Missouri happened here.

"You have to get out in front of the story and be straight with people," Hauck told First News with Keeler in the Morning.

He pointed to previous cases in the city including one that occurred on Boilermaker Sunday two years ago in which a man was shot and killed by police.

"We had the information out to people shortly after it all went down," Hauck said.  "We were up front with the public and gave them every piece of information that was available at the time.

Rioting in Ferguson, Missouri broke out on Friday after police were slow to get information out to people following the fatal shooting of a young black man in that city.  Tension was elevated when police chose to release a video of a robbery at a convenience store that the victim was involved in.  The robbery was not related to the police call that ultimately resulted in the shooting of the 18 year old and critics say it was released with the simple goal of character assassination.

"I wouldn't have released that video," said Hauck.  "It wasn't relevant to the case and under the circumstances it would only increase tensions."

Listen to the complete interview with Lt. Hauck:

RELATED AUDIO:

More from Lt. Hauck and Attorney Andell Brown -

- Andell is on to give his legal opinion on how the Ferguson situation is being handled. He also talks about the military type style of law enforcement.

- Andell talks about this type of military response being unsettling and something we associate with war zones in the middle east.

- Lt. Hauck agrees that it's unsettling, but there is violence being used against law enforcement.

- Often the job that police officers do is reflective on their training. And Andell makes that a point.

- Bill addresses the issue of press conference background people. The police chief had white officers with him and the governor had black officers with him.

- Andell points out the problem of citizens of Ferguson and their lack of trust for law enforcement. The big problem is that the police officer story has not yet been released. The lack of transparency from the police department has exacerbated the problem even further.

Continuing with Lt. Hauck - In Studio

- We talk about the demographics of this police force in Ferguson and how difficult it will be to come back from this.

- You have not yet heard from this mayor or council members. It could be because they didn't want to associate themselves with this national attention.

- A lot of the protestors are probably not from Ferguson. It puts other lives at risk.

- We talk about Hauck's trip to Florida to discuss the Trayvon Martin case. He talked with Sanford Police about what happened and how they handled it. This was for training purposes.

Wrapping Things Up For The Day With Lt. Hauck

- We read some comments from Twitter and we take a call from William. William finds it interesting that the Dept. of Justice didn't want video and pictures released of the suspect, but had no problem with the officers names being released.

- Totally unrelated, we ask Lt. Hauck about the woman that was arrested for swearing at her kid in a store. She was most likely charged on disorderly misconduct or endangering the welfare of a child. Hauck uses the example of being a bad parent is not illegal.

- Lt. Hauck suspects that an indictment will be coming down for the officer in a few weeks.

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