Jeff Hadley has been Kalamazoo's public safety chief for more than six years. America Tonight

On a frigid night in early February, Sgt. Scott Boling and a fellow officer were out on foot patrol in a high-crime neighborhood going door-to-door to chat with residents. One man invited the officers into his home and offered a tip about possible drug activity in the area.

“He gave us specific information about an individual and where this person tends to hide guns, recent shots fired, along with drug activities," Boling said. "And that only comes when you build trust with the community. I think that’s huge.”

This is typical of Kalamazoo's new, softer policing strategy, according to Boling. And he said he now sees how overly aggressive policing can backfire.

“When you blanket an area with strict enforcement, it’s unfortunate but there some people that are affected that aren’t causing problems,” he said.

So far, the results of the reforms are modest, but promising. In the last year, even with police making far fewer traffic stops, the chief says overall crime has dropped by 7 percent.

Walker, who worked with Hadley on the reforms, applauded his efforts. "I don't think people understand the enormity of that job, of changing the situation," he said. “A lot of us would like to see things changed overnight. This won't happen… We didn't get here overnight. We're talking about decades, many, many years, of differential police activity.”

It’s a legacy that’s not lost on young black men in Kalamazoo, like Pinney-Johnson, who told America Tonight he's skeptical of the changes and still has a contentious relationship with police.

“With folks like myself and other specifically young black and brown men, I don't think that attempts to build trust has really gotten anywhere,” he said, adding that he'd like to see deeper reforms that address systemic racism and police culture.

“This culture of institutional and systemic racism and white supremacy gives white folks and white officers that privilege to not necessarily see the harm of racial profiling,” said Pinney-Johnson

Hadley said he knows expectations are high and that he’ll continue working to build trust between his officers and communities of color.

"I'm not going to sit here and paint some picture like every interaction is going to be Andy and Barney in Mayberry," he said, referring to the classic sitcom "The Andy Griffith Show." “We deal with some complex stuff. We have to listen. We have to pay attention. We have to look ahead, down the road, and see what's the best way we can achieve crime reduction at the same time maintaining the relationship with the community."

While Kalamazoo will never be like the mythical Mayberry, Hadley says police can at least take significant steps to keep it from being another Ferguson.