ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association plans a new public relations campaign highlighting the work officers do in their communities.

Paid advertising will be part of the campaign.

The group’s executive director, Dennis Flaherty, tells Minnesota Public Radio News that police want the public to know that “their whole desire is to make their communities a better place.”

Flaherty says the association is launching the effort after his members started raising concerns about the perception of police officers nationally.

But Michelle Gross, with Communities United Against Police Brutality, says the association should be focusing its efforts elsewhere. Gross says the group should be “holding their members accountable so people have reasons to trust them.”