TORRINGTON, Conn. — A large crowd gathered to show their support for law enforcement at Coe Memorial Park.
People who attended the Back the Blue rally say in spite of recent events that are being discussed in Connecticut like the Police Accountability Bill they say now is the time to stand behind those who protect and serve.
“We support the police, we don’t deny that happened to George Floyd or anybody else, but we don’t want to bury every police off over in the country,” said David Lamanna who acted at the master of ceremony during the protest.
Over one hundred people came to show their support.
This protest comes after an hours-long public hearing for a police accountability bill where people got a chance to speak for or against the draft.
People like Lamanna say they agree with parts of the bill that calls for transparency and a higher standard for recruits but draws the line for ending qualified immunity
Lamanna said, “We got to be careful about doing away with qualified immunity for police officers because I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of them that will stay around or a lot of them coming in as new recruits.”
People attending the rally also say defunding the police needs to be looked at again.
“If somebody’s breaking into my house I don’t wanna get an answering for a police voicemail that says oh well we’re busy right now will get back to you in five days. I want somebody to come out at me,” said Ginny Chernak.
Others want people to remember the good police have done.
Lew Alba said, “Being the first to accidents extracting occupants and giving first aid, saving the lives of youngsters of overdosed, rushing into burning buildings to make sure everyone is safe.“
Others with different views wanted to have their voices heard, despite having opposition.
“I can’t say every Officer is bad but what I can say is that the system is bad, the system needs to be fixed and until the system is fixed we are always going to go through this issue,” said Dontrell Brown.
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There was a point where two different viewpoints came together where they talked out their differences that ended with an embrace calling for others to do the same.
On one side a wife of a police officer in the area, and the other a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I’m just so thankful because I feel like we need to have conversations, listen to each other and pray for each other and I think we’re going to see a lot of change,” said Jeanette Brennan.
People who attended the rally say going forward they’ll be contacting their local representatives to make sure that their voices are heard.