CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WINA) – Turnout was low at the Charlottesville Police Department’s town hall meeting on Thursday night, but that may have been a compliment.

Police Chief Michael Kochis’ first town hall was filled to overflowing, with tensions running high, but less than two dozen turned out at the Carver Recreation Center.

Part of Kochis’ approach has been visiting a different neighborhood each week to help establish relationships. If high turnout equals anger and distrust, it stands to reason that a small crowd equals success.

But Kochis has no plan to end his visits, which he says provide good information.

“What we see is people start telling us stuff,” he said. “Like hey, this person is coming in each day, and they have a gun with them, or there’s the person who came in and shot, and the bullet went through my kid’s window. So, we need to continue to do that.”

Among the challenges he addressed is Virginia’s lack of sufficient mental health treatment, which he calls a crisis.

In response, the department is in the process of developing an anchor team which will comprised of a paramedic, a clinician and a police officer.

In addition to violent crimes, other challenges include fentanyl use and shots fired incidents, all of which Kochis promises to fight with every means available.