GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) – Faith leaders came together Monday for a prayer vigil for the family of Tyre Nichols.

They took the time to pray for the Nichols family pray for the people in our communities to take action.

“We can’t wait until something, some tragedy, some incident as with the case with Tyre Nichols and his family and the Memphis community come at our backdoor,” said Eve Rogers, pastor at New Dimensions Community Church. “We have to be proactive. We need a love and a respect for humankind.”

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Local law enforcement leaders also attended the vigil and shared their reaction to watching the police body camera footage.

“I asked my staff this morning, ‘Give me a word, how do you describe it?'” said Greenville Police Chief Ted Sauls. “I heard words like ‘disappointed,’ I heard words like ‘hurt,’ ‘saddened’.”

“I was horrified to see the actions of people who we trust to protect and serve,” said Pitt County Sheriff Paula Dance. “They did not represent us, that is not who we are.”

Pitt County NAACP President Calvin Henderson said he hopes if anything, this tragedy in Memphis will bring the community together.

“In Pitt County and across the area, we need to prevent anything of this caliber from happening in our area,” Henderson said.

While there are policies in place, Sauls said his department is paying a little extra attention nowadays.

“Our explanation is important,” he said. “People want to know now more than ever the why, the why are you stopping me. We are going to encounter way more good than we do bad, and when we do encounter the bad, we still have to apply our humanity to that situation.”