Letters: Support police and minorities; disruptive behavior at rallies - Loveland Reporter-Herald

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Loveland police officers need support, and so do minority residents

Nearly three years ago, I gave public comment at a Loveland City Council meeting asking councilors to consider a resolution denouncing the rise in hate-group activity since President Trump was elected. I was glad to read that Mayor Marsh and Councilor Samson joined in solidarity with proclaiming Black Lives Matter.

Racism is a common denominator in hate crimes and police brutality. The human rights and civil rights of our fellow brothers and sisters must be protected by all of us.

I watched a recent City Council meeting and saw the divisions of Pro Cop or Pro BLM creeping into your work. In this Trump era, these conflicts and divisions are predictable and pervasive.

I hope you can find common ground in the days leading up to the next election. Don’t let these binary slogans of Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives or All Lives derail you from your constitutional pledge to protect the civil rights of your residents.

In 2016, I served as a Loveland police chaplain for one year. I know there are good and decent officers in the Loveland PD, but I also know that racial ethnic minority residents in Loveland have experienced racial profiling.

Please do not fall into this false binary. Loveland PD officers need your support and so do your racial ethnic minority residents. I hope you can model the healing and reconciliation as a council that is desperately needed in our communities.

A common-ground option would be to reconsider a resolution affirming the civil rights and human rights of all Loveland residents, before another Charlottesville or Minneapolis happens again. I am confident that Chief Ticer and his officers would concur.

Howard Dotson

Maple Grove, Minn.

‘Counterdemonstrators’ were at rallies to disrupt peaceful citizens

I attended the “Black Lives Matter” demonstration in Berthoud, and the “Loveland Against Racism” demonstration in Loveland on Saturday, Aug. 1. In both instances, the demonstrators  were peaceful and in no way disruptive.

The peaceful demonstration in Berthoud was interrupted by a group of men, some of whom were armed.They intimidated and threatened us, physically and verbally. They forced themselves among the peaceful demonstrators, “getting in our faces,” using abusive language.

They attempted to block our access to the street and threatened to physically attack us. These men were not there as counterdemonstrators! They were there to keep us from practicing our constitutional rights of free speech!

The Loveland demonstration “Against Racism” was also interrupted by many of the same group of men. They were armed. They intermingled with the demonstrators in a threatening manner. They did not wear masks or practice social distancing, and they interfered with our effort to do so. There was no counterdemonstration as you reported in your article Aug. 2.

The governor of Colorado has ordered the use of masks and recommended social distancing to protect us all!  Not one of these disrupters wore a mask or practiced social distancing. They interfered with our efforts to protect ourselves and others.

The actions of the sheriff’s deputies in Berthoud and the police in Loveland were less than adequate and in some ways neglectful of their responsibilities to protect our rights and safety. In Berthoud, the deputies, for the most part, remained at a distance and, when I and others requested their protection, were slow to respond if they did so at all.

In Loveland, the mayor requested police presence. The police were nowhere to be seen, before, during or after the demonstration. Is that “protection of the rights and safety of peaceful citizens”? I did not expect the “professional” officers of the law to act in such a manner.

Bob Strayer

Loveland

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Letters: Support police and minorities; disruptive behavior at rallies - Loveland Reporter-Herald
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