Welcome to Obamaland where racism and anti-police vandalism trumps everything else.
Denver Police Chief Robert C. White allegedly ordered police officers to stand down and watch a memorial to slain cops be criminally vandalized during an anti-police protest this past weekend.
Chief White joins the list of politicians and political appointees too concerned with pandering to the criminal element of the vocal and growing anti-police movement.
Widening the berth during protests and ignoring minor violations is nothing new, and has proven to be an effective strategy at defusing disorder control situations.
But this wasn’t that.
Here the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of a major metropolitan department didn’t only order his officers to ignore substantial penal law violations, but he forced them to watch their dead to be dishonored.
And for that he must resign.
It is my opinion that Chief White is unfit for the command he now holds. He crossed a line you do not cross, and in doing so forever lost the respect and confidence of Denver PD’s rank and file.
Denver PD’s union president Nick Rogers agrees. He is also calling for the Chief to resign.
In a statement to Denver’s CBS 4, Rogers said: “There is no reason to allow someone to desecrate a memorial. There is no reason to allow that to happen, it’s wrong…we have a breaking point and we are there.”
Two men were arrested for the criminal vandalism of the memorial. 25 year old Robert Guerrero and 23 year old Matthew Goldberg.
They were part of a group of around 100 protesters who were there to rant about, among other things, the shooting of 17 year old Jessica Hernandez who tried to run over Denver police officers with a stolen car.
A common theme of these anti-police protests seems to be the mindset that no matter the circumstances, no matter how in danger their lives, police are wrong in using deadly force.
In fact, it is pretty clear to me that most of the protesters are more pro-criminal than they are anti-police.
Listening to their demands, it sure seems like they would rather Mike Brown have killed Darren Wilson, and Jessica Hernandez have run down the Denver officers.
Chief White allowing protesters to throw red paint over the names of dead officers seems to imply a level of empathy with the protesters, and that was not lost on Denver cops who have lost more officers in the line of duty than any other department in the region.
In an scathing editorial to CBS 4, Denver Police Officer Danny Veith wrote
“Chief White,
I find myself at a loss of words, an inability to express how dismayed I am that you have failed to publicly denounce the inexcusable actions by protesters this afternoon. I checked every Denver area news source tonight and could not find any comments or remarks, from you, expressing disgust and anger over the desecration of our memorial to fallen officers.
Further, I have not seen any internal communication, to the honorable members of the Denver Police Department, the brave men and women you were hired to lead, explaining how a despicable act of degradation could even be allowed to occur!
Anger and frustration, by our officers, have dominated social media this evening. The absence of your leadership today is alarming, but – unfortunately – not surprising.
Not to lecture you, Sir, but no other law enforcement agency in our part of the United States, meaning Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, have lost more officers in the line-of-duty than the Denver Police Department.
This tragic statistic, this humbling fact reinforces the enduring commitment of Denver Police Officers to put their very lives before all else in carrying out their duties. No other city or state agency has spilled more blood, serving the community, than our officers.
That our officers, working the demonstration today, had to watch the outrageous vandalism to our sacred memorial, without being able to intervene, is inexcusable and unacceptable.
Equally alarming is the escalation of anti-police rhetoric in our city, incendiary language and actions that have yet to be countered by city leaders, the Mayor, or yourself. Spray painting “fuck the police” and threatening specific officers, by attaching their names with warnings of retribution, on our venerable memorial, as occurred today, only emboldens acts of future violence.
One has to look no farther than the executions of NYPD Officers Liu and Ramos, and the increase in lethal ambushes on police officers nationwide.
Before the next protest occurs, we need to hear from you. We need to know that you will enact and enforce a policy preventing these anti-social activists from damaging our police memorial and facilities in the future. We need to hear from you that your support our active and retired officers, and the memories of our fallen.
I can’t speak for every DPD officer, but of the four or five hundred I routinely interact with, I can state – as a fact – that we are all desperately craving leadership in our Police Department. You have been absent in this role for three years.
Respectfully,
Officer Danny Veith, 94040″
Despite Officer Veith’s generous olive branch, Chief White must step down for the good of the department. In reality, when morale is this far gone it never recovers.
Few things are more ineffective or dangerous than a police department without strong respected leadership.
One positive did come from all of this. The Denver Fire Department, apparently also incensed by the Chief’s call, joined Denver PD in cleaning the memorial and restoring it to its pre-vandalism condition.
Despite the jokes and jabs, police officers and firefighters often face death together and this is just another example of them having each other’s backs.
Chief White would do well to heed the actions of Denver FD and also learn to back up his cops.
Read more: John Cardillo
