Quote:Sixty-two percent of registered voters oppose defunding the police, according to a Fox News poll released Monday.

The survey comes less than a week after a jury in Minneapolis found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd. Floyd’s death last May sparked national protests and outrage over heavy-handed police tactics of Black people. Floyd was Black, Chauvin is white.

The poll, which was conducted April 18-21 during the final days of Chauvin’s trial, also found:

33 percent of voters agree with reducing police funding and moving it to other areas
87 percent of Republicans, 79 percent of white evangelicals, 77 percent of baby boomers, 75 percent of rural voters and 73 percent of white men without a college degree are among those who oppose reducing police funding.
54 percent of Democrats, 51 percent of Black voters and 49 percent of millennials are most likely to favor defunding the police.
46 percent of Hispanics favor reduced funding compared with 47 percent of Hispanics who don’t
The top three issues of those surveyed were the economy (78 percent), gun laws (74 percent) and health care (73 percent), followed by infrastructure (68 percent), illegal immigration (67 percent), treatment of migrants, racism, and the federal deficit (65 percent each), and the amount paid in taxes (63 percent).
Additionally, registered voters have concerns about voter suppression (60 percent), voter fraud (59 percent), being able to pay bills (58 percent) and climate change (57 percent).
58 percent disapprove of the job Congress is doing, compared with 30 percent who approve
50 percent think some U.S. troops should remain in Afghanistan, while 37 percent said all troops should be removed
The 50 largest U.S. cities in 2021 reduced their police budgets by 5.2 percent in aggregate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg CityLab, though law enforcement spending as a share of general expenditures rose slightly to 13.7 percent from 13.6 percent. President Joe Biden has signaled support for spending on training and department oversight, rather than cuts.

The Fox poll surveyed 1,002 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.

Link

(04-26-2021 04:13 PM)CrimsonPhantom Wrote:  

This is of course the plan. See: Brownshirts.

I'm sure they caught him, and I'm sure he's already out no bail.

(04-27-2021 09:55 AM)BartlettTigerFan Wrote:  I'm sure they caught him, and I'm sure he's already out no bail.

Lotta folks gonna be "tripping and falling" when taken into custody.

(04-27-2021 09:58 AM)MemTigers1998 Wrote:  

(04-27-2021 09:55 AM)BartlettTigerFan Wrote:  I'm sure they caught him, and I'm sure he's already out no bail.

Lotta folks gonna be "tripping and falling" when taken into custody.

Sudden Concrete Impalement cases will be on the rise

Anyone who would resign is not really committed to serving the community and likely isn't worthy of being a good cop anyway.

(04-27-2021 10:23 AM)Danforth Wrote:  Anyone who would resign is not really committed to serving the community and likely isn't worthy of being a good cop anyway.

Are you trying to be this obtuse or does it come naturally?

(04-27-2021 10:23 AM)Danforth Wrote:  Anyone who would resign is not really committed to serving the community and likely isn't worthy of being a good cop anyway.

That's not remotely true. Given the dangers, pay, and incessant scrutiny even the most dedicated are going to think about doing something else given what's happening.

(04-27-2021 10:23 AM)Danforth Wrote:  Anyone who would resign is not really committed to serving the community and likely isn't worthy of being a good cop anyway.

lulz, says the guy from Oregon, the state where the cities have turned into sh*tholes.

(04-23-2021 07:23 AM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  There would be so much less criminality if people weren't denied the social services they need, and so much less need for potentially violent police interventions. Much like health care, there should be more emphasis on prevention than waiting for problems to arise, resulting in worse outcomes and mass incarceration. More social work up front would reduce the need for the paramilitary policing we have today.

"Damn, if we just paid people not to commit crimes, there'd be no crimes, man!"

(04-27-2021 10:23 AM)Danforth Wrote:  Anyone who would resign is not really committed to serving the community and likely isn't worthy of being a good cop anyway.

That is the exact attitude of people who get the type of police officers they "deserve".

Quote:There were 46 separate shooting incidents for the seven day time-frame ending Sunday evening in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) New York City.

The New York Post reported that the 46 shooting incidents resulted in 50 victims.

There were 12 shootings with 14 victims during the same week in 2020.

The New York Police Department showed 376 shootings in the city so far this year, with 416 victims.

On April 20, 2021, the Post noted de Blasio was dealing with the violence by reassigning police officers, as he did last year. However, he is reassigning 200 officers versus the 300 he reassigned last year.

Moreover, after the 300 officers were reallocated, gun violence surged in the reassignment areas during 2020.

New York adopted a massive body of gun controls in 2013 under the auspices of the SAFE Act. Those controls include universal background checks, a ban on “high capacity” magazines, an “assault weapons” ban, firearm registration requirements, as well as ammunition registration.

The New York Government’s webpage notes the state also has a red flag law, which took effect August 24, 2019.

Despite all these gun controls, which are the very same controls Democrats seek at the federal level, gun violence in Mayor de Blasio’s NYC is surging.

Link

(04-27-2021 10:23 AM)Danforth Wrote:  Anyone who would resign is not really committed to serving the community and likely isn't worthy of being a good cop anyway.

Now you are only trolling. No one is intentionally that obtuse. People are going to look out for their own well-being and/or their family. One may very well loving serving the public by being a police officer; however, balancing that with the fear of being ambushed by some idiot while out processing a crime scene, the family is going to win 99% of the time. Like has been said numerous times before, the good ones will be the ones leaving and the bad ones will stay because they have no other options.

I sincerely hope some or preferably all of these trolls will need a police officer one day, and I hope none show up. And don't expect those of us ready willing and able to protect ourselves to stand in for them for you.

Quote:Authorities arrested a 30-year-old suspect in connection with a brutal attack on a Delmar, Delaware, police officer.

The suspect also reportedly attacked two elderly neighbors in what is believed to be a related crime.

The attack comes as the department suffers a lack of funding and available resources for police and law enforcement officials.

What are the details?
Police arrested Randon Wilkerson early Sunday morning after he reportedly bludgeoned a police officer during what a law enforcement source told Blaze Media was a blindsiding sneak attack.

A news release from the Delaware State Police said the incident unfolded following a call over a fight in a house in Delmar's Yorkshire Estates community.

Wilkerson, the DSP reported, was reportedly fighting with other residents of the home and destroying property, which prompted the initial call. Dispatchers soon received a second phone call reporting that the elderly victim and his wife had been attacked by the same suspect.

Following the initial call, Cpl. Keith Heacook of the Delmar Police Department arrived on the scene and was believed to have immediately met with a physical confrontation.

A source — who has worked in local law enforcement for more than two decades and requested anonymity — told Blaze Media that the incident unfolded in horrific fashion after Heacook arrived at the scene around 5:15 a.m. local time.

According to the source's understanding, a missed 10-minute welfare check triggered dispatchers to send more officers to the scene to check on Heacook.

When a Wicomico County Sheriffs Office Deputy and a Delaware State Trooper arrived at 5:50 p.m, the source said that the two reportedly discovered an unconscious Heacook in a pool of blood, having apparently been bludgeoned with his own baton, which was missing from its holster.

The source told Blaze Media that Heacook — who was believed to have been overpowered — was repeatedly hit so violently that there was a dent in the officer's forehead.

The source added that six other people in the home reportedly witnessed the attack on the officer. None of the witnesses, according to the source, called authorities over the attack, and instead locked themselves in an upstairs room of the home. One of the witnesses reportedly said that they saw Wilkerson "throat-stomping" the officer during the attack.

Officers from the nearby Laurel Police Department soon arrived on the scene and began assisting in performing first aid on Heacook until emergency medical services arrived on the scene, according to the DSP news release. The source told Blaze Media that Heacook had neither a pulse nor was breathing when his fellow officers arrived on the scene.

"There was blood everywhere," the source added.

Officers discovered the suspect at a home across the street from where Heacook's unconscious body was left, having reportedly attacked an elderly couple with an object the source believed to be a glass bottle. The elderly woman, whom the source identified as a dementia patient, was said to have lost several teeth during the attack as well as a fractured orbital. Both elderly victims suffered significant injuries as a result of the attack and were transported by ambulance to area hospitals. The female victim was later transported to Shock Trauma in Baltimore as well.

The source told Blaze Media that the suspect was believed to have fled to the elderly neighbors' home in search of a gun, presumably to either finish off Heacock or perhaps confront responding officers. The suspect, the source said, was unable to find a gun, and reportedly jumped from a second-floor window. The DSP reported that officers discovered Wilkerson walking on the rear of the elderly victims' property and was taken into custody without incident.

Heacook was ultimately transferred to the Shock Trauma Unit in Baltimore, Maryland, for treatment of a traumatic brain injury and other injuries. He continues to fight for his life at the time of this reporting.

Authorities charged Wilkerson with terroristic threatening, attempted murder, burglary, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, and one count of third-degree assault.

He was booked into the Sussex Correctional Institution on $451,000 cash bond following his arraignment. The source told Blaze Media that Wilkerson had been arrested more than 30 times since 2010. Indeed, a search in the Maryland Judiciary Case portal returned at least 38 arrests in Maryland alone, including arrests for assault, burglary, theft, trespassing, and more.

The Delaware State Police are handling the investigation with the assistance of other local and state law enforcement.

"Corporal Keith Heacook is a 22-year veteran and has been employed with our department since 1998," PIO Master Cpl. Gary Fournier said in a statement. "He is a husband, son, brother, and father. Keith is fighting for his life right now and he needs your prayers along with the elderly couple who were also injured. Members from the Delmar Police appreciate the outpouring of community support as we continue to move forward. We appreciate the support from the Delaware State Police, Wicomico County Sheriff's Office, Maryland State Police, and all other agencies who responded and are assisting with this investigation."

The source told Blaze Media that Heacook — who he described as a good police officer, a "very gentle man," and a person who never even raised his voice — was close to retirement.

The Bank of Delmarva has a designated account named "The Community" for anyone who wishes to donate to Heacook and his family. For more information on how to donate, you can contact the bank at 410-548-7892 or 800-787-4542.

What else?
A Monday WMDT-TV report highlighted the vast concern in what many area residents and lawmakers say is major underfunding for the local police following Heacook's attack.

WMDT's Jordie Clark wrote, "Although it's not uncommon for smaller municipalities to only have one officer on duty, the addition of another officer or even quicker back up was needed in the situation, according to officials. Some even say, the outcome of this fight could have been very different if other officers had been there."

Maryland State Delegate Carl Anderton — who is also former mayor of neighboring Delmar, Maryland — told the station, "This is what happens when you're allowed to have single officer shifts, and we should never be in this situation."

Jamie Leonard, president of Delaware's Fraternal Orders of Police, added, "The problem with a place like Delmar outside of the fact that they have this kind of two-state leadership, is that their pay is low."

"You have to increase funding somehow, that funding and that trickle-down can't just be used to hire more police," Leonard added, "you have to provide a competitive wage to the officers that are already there."

Delmar, which straddles the Delaware-Maryland state line, is forced to "strategically place officers" since they have "more space to cover," Clark adds.

Delmar, Delaware, Mayor Karen Wells told the station that few people are even applying to be officers in the area this days.

"Quite frankly, who would want to be a police officer right now," Wells said. "That's the hardest thing I think we're facing."

Anderton added, “After [Heacook recovers] I think it's up to the two mayors Delmar, Maryland, and Delmar, Delaware, to come together and figure out how they're going to move the department forward."

Wells said, "We will have to look into what we can do to make sure that this doesn't happen again. I mean that's all there is to it."

Link

Senator John Kennedy Attacks Anti-Cop Media Bias

Quote:The Louisville, Kentucky, police union says that the department is in “dire straits” in terms of staffing after 200 officers walked off the job in 2020 and 2021.

Around 190 cops left their positions with the department in 2020, following a police-involved shooting that led to the death of Breonna Taylor. Despite subsequent protests, no officers were charged in Taylor’s death, though the city has now banned so-called “no-knock warrants, “prohibiting police from forcibly entering a home without first announcing themselves even if they have a warrant,” according to Buzzfeed News.

Like other police departments, that have suffered amid the uptick in anti-police rhetoric and in the wake of the “Defund the Police” movement, Louisville is struggling to find individuals willing to take on a law enforcement role, according to the department’s police union.

“Nearly 190 cops left the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) in 2020 and 43 have stepped away from the Kentucky city’s agency so far in 2021, either choosing to retire or resign altogether, as law enforcement officials struggle to recruit new members to make up for a deficit in manpower,” according to Fox News.

“I would say that we’re in dire straits,” a union spokesperson told the network.

“Statistics provided by LMPD on Tuesday show the department has hired 26 new members so far this year, while 43 have left. The 1,069-person department falls 255 people short of its “authorized strength” of 1,324 — the number of personnel it is authorized to employ,” Fox News added.

“Our manpower is critically low,” the spokesperson added, noting that anti-police sentiment appears to be a critical element. “One thing we have to consider when we’re talking about recruiting is that in the climate that we currently find ourselves, the pool of people wanting to become officers is shrinking every day.”

In addition to the national scrutiny directed at Louisville’s police over Taylor’s death, the Department of Justice is now preparing to investigate the department’s policing practices to determine whether officers have shown a pattern of violating civil rights.

“We’re obviously losing a lot more officers than we are gaining. And if that continues, at what point can we not operate appropriately?” he said.

The Philadelphia Inquirer noted, earlier this year, that the officer staffing problem is not unique to Louisville.

“A survey of news stories indicates that across America’s 50 largest cities, at least 23 have seen chiefs or line officers resign, retire, or take disability this year,” the outlet reported. “Nearly 3,700 beat cops have left, a large proportion from the New York Police Department (down 7% of its officers) but with big drops in Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Atlanta, and elsewhere, too. The Major Cities Chiefs Association told the Wall Street Journal that 18 of its 69 member executives had retired, resigned, or been fired over the past year.”

Potential executives are also refusing the job, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“There’s a lot of folks that are hesitant when they see chiefs are getting beat up and getting thrown under the bus by their bosses,” the Houston Police Department chief and president of the MCCA Art Acevedo told the WSJ.

Link

Quote:More than 200 Seattle police officers walked off the job last year, according to the Seattle Police Department, following weeks of protests and heightened “anti-police rhetoric.”

Like the Louisville, Kentucky, police department, which revealed, earlier this week, that it is in a “staffing crisis” following the departure of nearly 200 of its own officers, Seattle’s police department is losing police officers “at a record pace.”

“Police Chief Adrian Diaz said Tuesday that the department is in a ‘staffing crisis’ after more than 180 police officers quit last year and another 66 officers left their jobs so far this year, according to police data,” per The Associated Press.

“We are at record lows in the city right now. I have about 1,080 deployable officers. This is the lowest I’ve seen our department,” Diaz said in an interview with local media.

Seattle was an epicenter of anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests last summer, and the Seattle police department was left under siege over an “occupied protest” of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Seattle’s city council is also among a handful of city governments that pursued aggressive efforts to “defund the police,” though they eventually settled for aggressive cuts to the law enforcement budget.

Seattle’s former police chief, Carmen Best, who resigned last summer, said the budget cuts and anti-police rhetoric left her feeling as though her department was “destined to fail,” according to an interview she did with NPR. And the Seattle Times Editorial Board laid the blame for the city’s rising homicide rate — a full 50% higher in 2020 than in 2019 — squarely at the feet of the city’s progressive legislators.

“The Seattle City Council’s reckless rhetoric and slapdash moves to defund the police have hurt — not helped — the safety of residents citywide. The list is long: Funding cuts without the former chief’s insight and a climate that spurred an exodus of officers have hurt the department’s ability to respond to trouble,” the Seattle Timed ed board wrote. “Detectives and other specialists are pulling routine patrol shifts to respond to 911 calls rather than working to prevent or investigate crimes because the department is so short-handed. After calling 911, residents throughout the city have had to wait for police response that, in some instances, never happens.”

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan also blamed the city council’s rhetoric, in her own statement on the police attrition rate this week.

“Despite an increased focus on recruitment and retention, the Seattle Police Department continues to lose sworn officers at a record pace due to ongoing budget uncertainty,” Durkan’s office said in a statement. “Based on exit interviews, we know the Council’s threats of continued layoffs or cuts are having a direct impact on decisions to leave the department.”

She also lambasted the council’s plan to make further cuts to the police budget.

“The City Council is considering new cuts of $5.4 million to the police department’s budget,” the AP noted Thursday. “But Durkan is cautioning against additional cuts without addressing hiring and retention of officers.”

The department says it is hiring a number of community service and liaison officers, but it needs front-line police officers to help handle the city’s rise in crime. The city’s police chief also says he hopes the resignations are on a decline.

“I’m hoping that it starts to level off,” Diaz said. “I do see that this year we could have a significant amount of people leaving.”

Link

Quote:The city of St. Louis is moving toward axing nearly 100 police officer positions and cutting millions from the police department's budget. The movement to defund the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department was lauded by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who called the decision "historic," despite the city being one of the most violent per capita in the world.

A proposal to eliminate 98 vacant officer positions and reallocate $4 million of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department's $171 million budget passed a vote last week. The proposition was passed by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment by a 2-1 vote, with St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones (D) and Comptroller Darlene Green supporting the plan and Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed opposing the proposal. Fox News reported that the plan "now goes to the Board of Alderman, the legislative body of the city, for hearings and possible amendments, before it's set to take effect July 1."

"The plan moves $4 million out of the police department's $171 million budget to go toward affordable housing, homeless services, a victims' support program and civil rights litigators," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. "The police budget accounts for about 15% of total city spending."

"For many years the budget has not supported the needs of the people and that's why we're seeing record numbers of homicides and other acts of violence," Jones said in a statement after the vote, according to the Riverfront Times. "What we've been doing doesn't work. This revised budget will start St. Louis on a new path to tackling some of the root causes of crime."

Bush said the vote to defund the police is "historic."

"Today's decision to defund the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is historic," Bush said in a statement. "We are building a St. Louis where elected officials lead in partnership with activists, organizers, and our communities."

"For decades, our city funneled more and more money into our police department under the guise of public safety, while massively underinvesting in the resources that will truly keep our communities safe," Bush added.

"Previous administrations spent more per capita on policing than all comparable cities, building a police force that is larger than that of any city comparable to St. Louis," the congresswoman continued. "But even as more and more money has gone into policing, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department continues to be the deadliest police force in the nation, year after year — all while violence in our communities continues to skyrocket."

St. Louis police were responsible for more killings per capita than any of the 100 largest police departments, according to a report from Arch City Defenders, a self-described "holistic legal advocacy organization that combats the criminalization of poverty and state violence, especially in communities of color."

Bush called for alternatives to police, such as "unarmed mental health professionals or social workers to respond to crisis calls."

However, not all residents of the crime-ridden city were sold on having fewer cops, and in fact, some called for more police on the streets.

"I would like to see more police officers here," longtime St. Louis resident Gale Davis told KSDK-TV.

"Just make sure that we have police officers and safety because this is a dangerous city," LaTaisha Jones-Lewis, who lives on the south side of the city, stated.

Not only is St. Louis a "dangerous city," but it was recently named as one of the most violent cities in the entire world. The Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice, a Mexican think tank, released its annual 2020 rankings of the 50 most violent cities in the world on April 20.

The first six spots of the most violent cities list are all Mexican cities, including Celaya, Tijuana, and Juarez occupying the top three spots. St. Louis, which had 264 homicides in 2020, up from 194 in 2019, is the seventh most violent city in the world. Other U.S. cities on the list include Baltimore, New Orleans, and Memphis, which were 16th, 21st, and 24th, respectively.

Link

Quote:Hundreds of people attended a “Back the Blue” K9 5K Walk/Run to support a Minnesota police department’s K9 unit, according to the event’s Facebook page.

The event, which took place in Scanlon, Minnesota, on Saturday, brought out 500 people, organizers of the event told the Pine Journal.

As the event was primarily to benefit the Duluth Police Department’s K9 unit, people and their dogs were naturally out in full for the race.

Hundreds of attendees packed the starting line with their bibs on in the event’s inaugural year.

Attendees were encouraged to wear blue to support law enforcement on race day.

The event in Minnesota was a unique take on “Back the Blue” events, which are normally held as rallies. The rallies are quite popular across the country.

In April, a Back the Blue rally in upstate New York drew people who held up signs in support of the police, former President Donald Trump, and showed up to support local businesses.

But these rallies have maintained their popularity for a while, especially after protests against the police following instances of police brutality.

In August 2020, for example, more than 200 pro-police demonstrators attended a Back the Blue rally in North Carolina.

Link

(05-02-2021 01:10 PM)CrimsonPhantom Wrote:  

Quote:The city of St. Louis is moving toward axing nearly 100 police officer positions and cutting millions from the police department's budget. The movement to defund the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department was lauded by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who called the decision "historic," despite the city being one of the most violent per capita in the world.

A proposal to eliminate 98 vacant officer positions and reallocate $4 million of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department's $171 million budget passed a vote last week. The proposition was passed by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment by a 2-1 vote, with St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones (D) and Comptroller Darlene Green supporting the plan and Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed opposing the proposal. Fox News reported that the plan "now goes to the Board of Alderman, the legislative body of the city, for hearings and possible amendments, before it's set to take effect July 1."

"The plan moves $4 million out of the police department's $171 million budget to go toward affordable housing, homeless services, a victims' support program and civil rights litigators," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. "The police budget accounts for about 15% of total city spending."

"For many years the budget has not supported the needs of the people and that's why we're seeing record numbers of homicides and other acts of violence," Jones said in a statement after the vote, according to the Riverfront Times. "What we've been doing doesn't work. This revised budget will start St. Louis on a new path to tackling some of the root causes of crime."

Bush said the vote to defund the police is "historic."

"Today's decision to defund the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is historic," Bush said in a statement. "We are building a St. Louis where elected officials lead in partnership with activists, organizers, and our communities."

"For decades, our city funneled more and more money into our police department under the guise of public safety, while massively underinvesting in the resources that will truly keep our communities safe," Bush added.

"Previous administrations spent more per capita on policing than all comparable cities, building a police force that is larger than that of any city comparable to St. Louis," the congresswoman continued. "But even as more and more money has gone into policing, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department continues to be the deadliest police force in the nation, year after year — all while violence in our communities continues to skyrocket."

St. Louis police were responsible for more killings per capita than any of the 100 largest police departments, according to a report from Arch City Defenders, a self-described "holistic legal advocacy organization that combats the criminalization of poverty and state violence, especially in communities of color."

Bush called for alternatives to police, such as "unarmed mental health professionals or social workers to respond to crisis calls."

However, not all residents of the crime-ridden city were sold on having fewer cops, and in fact, some called for more police on the streets.

"I would like to see more police officers here," longtime St. Louis resident Gale Davis told KSDK-TV.

"Just make sure that we have police officers and safety because this is a dangerous city," LaTaisha Jones-Lewis, who lives on the south side of the city, stated.

Not only is St. Louis a "dangerous city," but it was recently named as one of the most violent cities in the entire world. The Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice, a Mexican think tank, released its annual 2020 rankings of the 50 most violent cities in the world on April 20.

The first six spots of the most violent cities list are all Mexican cities, including Celaya, Tijuana, and Juarez occupying the top three spots. St. Louis, which had 264 homicides in 2020, up from 194 in 2019, is the seventh most violent city in the world. Other U.S. cities on the list include Baltimore, New Orleans, and Memphis, which were 16th, 21st, and 24th, respectively.

Link

Quote:Hundreds of people attended a “Back the Blue” K9 5K Walk/Run to support a Minnesota police department’s K9 unit, according to the event’s Facebook page.

The event, which took place in Scanlon, Minnesota, on Saturday, brought out 500 people, organizers of the event told the Pine Journal.

As the event was primarily to benefit the Duluth Police Department’s K9 unit, people and their dogs were naturally out in full for the race.

Hundreds of attendees packed the starting line with their bibs on in the event’s inaugural year.

Attendees were encouraged to wear blue to support law enforcement on race day.

The event in Minnesota was a unique take on “Back the Blue” events, which are normally held as rallies. The rallies are quite popular across the country.

In April, a Back the Blue rally in upstate New York drew people who held up signs in support of the police, former President Donald Trump, and showed up to support local businesses.

But these rallies have maintained their popularity for a while, especially after protests against the police following instances of police brutality.

In August 2020, for example, more than 200 pro-police demonstrators attended a Back the Blue rally in North Carolina.

Link