Now this was at the end of a mayoral candidate forum weeks ago at Neighborhood House on St. Paul’s West Side. I had been asked to serve as more traffic cop than moderator by limiting the candidates’ responses to under a minute.

One of the seven candidates, who shall remain nameless, came over and asked if I would be willing to advise him on several issues. I was taken aback. It was just bluster. The candidate never called, probably the reason for the dismal showing and defeat. I exchanged pleasantries with others, none of whom I had met before. Politics is really not my shtick. I prefer to hobnob with regular, unwashed folks like myself.

Then came Melvin Carter III. I had met him for the first time, briefly, about two years ago when he came over to chat with a mutual friend while we were having breakfast at the Downtowner Grill. The forum was the second time I had seen him in person.

“Rubén, how’s your family doing?” he asked, referring to my folks back in hurricane-stricken Puerto Rico. I was impressed he knew, not enough to pull the lever for him strictly for his concern, if I resided in St. Paul, but impressed nevertheless.

I wasn’t surprised by the election results Tuesday evening. Carter is smart, young, energetic, articulate, connected, experienced and a St. Paul native whose parents and other relatives are members of one of the most well-known and long-standing families in the Saintly City. And yes, it should be noted that he is the first African-American and person of color to become mayor in the city’s 168-year history.

“It’s a proud day for me as a St. Paul resident and as a St. Paul police officer,” said Police Chief Todd Axtell, who has known the mayor-elect since Carter was a 10-year-old and considers him a friend. “Not only is it a proud, exciting and historic day for me and our city — I’m even more proud to call him my boss.”

Not all members of the force feel that way about Carter, who is the son of a retired St. Paul cop and of a longtime Ramsey County Commission member. Some feel Carter is beholden to special-interest groups that are anti-police and fear he will not adequately support them in effective crime-fighting efforts that might rub some folks the wrong way.

“What do I want from the new mayor?” asked one veteran cop I know. “Support! We have had none by (outgoing mayor Chris) Coleman no matter what he says. I know it’s hard to believe, but we occasionally do good work.

“We are not out there looking to shoot someone or beat someone up,” the cop added. “The only thing Carter talks about is the negative. It’s the people who yell the loudest that the news media quotes. Look at the shootings this year, (but) no one wants to talks about that but what the cops do wrong.”

The significant uptick in shootings and gunplay in the past year is but one major concern among street cops, offered another veteran officer now in middle management. Another is the number of people with emotional disorders and mental illness the cops confront, often in such agitated states that de-escalation techniques do not work.

“I’ve never seen the state of the number of mentally ill people on the streets as bad as it is now,” said the cop, who acknowledged he supported Pat Harris for mayor. “I really wish something could be done about this.”

Besides low morale, the cop said, officers are still smarting over the way they were instructed to respond to the freeway protests that erupted following the police shooting more than a year ago of Philando Castile.

“We were directed to stand on our hands,” said the veteran officer. “What cops want is for the mayor and others to use logic when things happen and not let political messaging influence or completely distort reason. Remember the shooting of (Jamar Clark) in Minneapolis? People came out and said he was executed while he was handcuffed. It was not true. I want the mayor to come to the table without preconceived notions (about police).”

One police-related entity some cops felt helped swing the election to Carter struck a conciliatory chord Thursday. The St. Paul Police Federation was harshly criticized two weeks ago for publicly releasing a letter questioning Carter’s cooperation with authorities after two handguns were stolen from Carter’s home in August. Then came a flier from a political action committee suggesting that the stolen guns might be connected to “100 bullets fired” in the city since the burglary.

Both Mayor Coleman and Harris decried the actions as racially motivated smear jobs and called for the resignation of police union head Dave Titus and the board.

“I frankly still don’t know what the union leadership was thinking,” said one of the cops interviewed for this column. “It almost looked like they were working for the Carter campaign. It backfired. Stupid move.”

Titus, who apologized to Carter if the release of the letter “re victimized” him and his family members, is staying put. Wednesday, he sent a personal message congratulating Carter on his election victory and hoping they can sit down in the near future.

“He’s going to lead our city and we are going to have to have a working relationship and clear the air and move forward,” Titus told me.

Better ways to address the gunplay, and obtaining parity pay for cops, are the two main priorities he would like to discuss with Carter and the city leadership before the police contract expires at the end of this year. The starting pay for St. Paul cops this year — at $56,439 — is $7,407 lower than Minneapolis’ and ranks below Apple Valley, Eagan, Cottage Grove, Inver Grove Heights and 11 other metro area east and west metro suburban police departments, according to police union data.

“In order to recruit and retain the best, brightest and most diverse police force, they are going to have to address the pay,” Titus said.

That’ a legitimate concern given a time when the city’s police force will swell to 626 by next year to handle the population increase, more venues to patrol, such as CHS Field and the proposed soccer stadium, and a historic rise in the number of service calls. However, compensation comparisons, to be fair, have to take all pay and benefits and perks into account, too.

A veteran cop of color who also has known Carter and his family for decades has a more philosophical take on the mayor-elect’s abilities in his relationship with the police force.

“It’s important for him to continue to be transparent, to be open with the community and realize that we are all in this together, that we are all working for the same goals,” the cop said. “It’s important for him to realize that it isn’t us against the community or them against us, but to work with us to help make us a safer community. I wish him lots of luck.”

So do I. He’s going to need it.