LIMA — Allen County Sheriff Sam Crish said Friday he plans to go to the funerals of five slain Dallas officers and hopes President Barack Obama does the same to show he supports police.
“I feel it’s important for the president to be there for the families, for law enforcement and he should support law enforcement for what we do every day,” Crish said. “I want him to not send representatives but for him personally go and show law enforcement across the country he appreciates what we do for our country.”
Crish and Lima Police Chief Kevin Martin were mourning the loss of the five officers in an ambush at a protest Thursday over two recent police shootings of black men in other states this week. A Texas man with a military background armed himself and shot officers protecting the rights of protesters in downtown Dallas.
Both Crish and Martin were shocked and saddened by the tragedy.
“When you look at what occurred, to me, it seems like there is this war against policemen. When you look at it, it’s scary,” said Crish who called the killer “a domestic terrorist.”
Martin said police were there to protect the First Amendment right of citizens to protest — even though the protest was against the police across the country. Even as they were dodging gunfire, police in Dallas were risking their lives to save citizens including those protesting against police, he said.
“Officers regularly risk their own safety and even their own lives to protect other people and their lives,” Martin said.
Crish, Martin and 6th Ward City Councilman Derry Glenn all said the violence against police must stop.
“It needs to come to an end. There are thousands and thousands of officers throughout the country who put their lives on the line every day to protect people in their communities,” Crish said. “They go to work every day and that may be the last day they work.”
Glenn said the officers killed and wounded were only trying to do their job. He said the deaths break his heart. He said violence is not the answer, and taking someone’s life out of anger is wrong.
“We shouldn’t be sitting here watching police get shot. They protect us,” Glenn said. “This is dividing our country right now, and we don’t need that. We have other things to worry about.”
Glenn said he hopes the recent shootings does not escalate racial tensions.
“We don’t need this as a race thing. We need to come together,” he said.
Glenn also said he hopes the killings in Dallas do not affect the way police do their job.
“What is next, the people protecting us can’t protect us because they are afraid they will get shot?” Glenn said.
Local officers are not taking additional safety steps in light of what happened in Dallas but Crish and Martin both said it’s a reminder to stay alert.
“You have to be on guard when you’re out there patrolling or working any function,” Crish said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s an agency of five officers or an agency that has thousands. That type of situation can happen anywhere.”
Glenn said he would like to see more gun laws to prevent such incidents. He said he has information the killer used an automatic weapon such as a machine gun despite laws that virtually do not allow citizens to own such weapons.
“We have to make sure guns don’t get in the wrong hands,” Glenn said. “That person handling the gun probably has a mental health issue and probably shouldn’t have a gun.”
Martin and Crish both said they do not see the Dallas killings as a gun issue, rather, the lack of respect for other people and the decay of the family unit.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the gun issue at all. The issue is that there is a percentage of people in this country who have no respect for anyone in law enforcement or a position of authority,” Crish said.
Martin said the issue is much deeper than adding more gun laws to the books.
“There are bigger issues in society that need to be dealt with. Unless we address those issues, gun control will not solve those issues. Look at the Boston Marathon terrorist bombings, they used pressure cooker bombs,” Martin said.
The chief also pointed to the terrorist attacks in France in which private citizens are banned from owning guns but well-armed terrorist killed 130 people using guns and bombs.
Martin said efforts to improve community relations and building trust is the biggest issue. Many members of the minority community do not trust police which he said is an issue Lima Police face and are dedicated to working on. Martin said the issue is one departments across the country face.
