Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger said county officers were in a somber mood Friday as news about the ambush killings of five Dallas police officers the night before spread across the country.
“This kind of event is a very personal thing for any police officer in the country, when you get someone who is specifically trying to kill police officers,” Manger said in an interview with Bethesda Beat. “But I will also tell you I have faith and confidence in my officers’ resolve. They understand that on a day like today it’s more important than ever to go out and do your job to keep people safe and not let these kinds of events impact the way police officers serve the public.”
Manger said he described this time period of unrest as the most challenging in his 40-year career in a message he sent to the county’s officers Friday morning.
“We always believed there were risks when we applied for this job,” Manger said in his message. “The events that occurred in Dallas remind us of the reality of how dangerous this job can be.”
Unlike other police chiefs across the country, Manger said he did not institute any changes in staffing or patrols in response to the incident in Dallas.
Several other departments, including Washington, D.C.’s police force, said they would double up officers on patrols in response to the Dallas killings. Five officers were killed and seven injured when a gunman fired at officers Thursday night during a peaceful protest in response to the fatal shootings this week by police of one black man in Louisiana and another in Minnesota.
Manger said he called Dallas Chief David Brown to express his condolences.
Manger, who is president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, said Dallas police have a good reputation, but national news about isolated police-involved killings have led to negative stereotypes about officers that could be fueling violence.
“They are taking what I believe are isolated incidents by a bad cop and trying to paint every police officer with a broad brush,” Manger said. “I think some members of the public are starting to buy into it and that makes this job difficult to do, it really does.”
He said officers can become demoralized if they don’t feel like they’re receiving support from the public or the media. He criticized news organizations such as CNN for broadcasting videos from social media and sharing information at a rapid pace without confirming all the facts.
“There have been other shootings where the social media stuff gets out, CNN ramps up their coverage and then a couple weeks later say, well, you know it turns out it was a justified use of force. At that point the damage is done,” he said.
At the same time, he said, it’s important for officers to continue to do their jobs, despite the national controversy stemming from recent events.
“It sounds like a cliché, but we really are the guardians of democracy,” Manger said. “If all of a sudden police look at everybody like they’re the enemy, that does nobody any good, not the police and not the public.”
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett offered his condolences Friday to the city of Dallas and condemned the attack on its police officers.
“Our hearts go out to the families and friends of those slain and wounded, as well as to their fellow officers,” Leggett said in a statement.
“We are all outraged by recent incidents involving deaths of African American men in Minnesota and in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. All people of good will, regardless of color, grieve their loss and want answers as to why they died. We need and expect thorough and transparent investigations of each loss of life,” Leggett added. “Violence is the problem, not the solution. It wasn’t in Ferguson. It wasn’t in Baltimore. It isn’t anywhere else either.”
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan also issued a statement Friday, calling the shooting of the officers in Dallas “a tragedy unlike anything our country has witnessed in recent years.”
“In Maryland and across the country, the obvious tensions between communities and law enforcement are real and cannot be ignored or swept under the rug,” Hogan said. “But there is so much more that unites us than divides us. Now is clearly a time for profound sorrow, but also for reflection, understanding and above all, compassion.”
Hogan encouraged residents to thank police officers whenever they see them.
Manger said the department received a number of correspondences Friday from the community thanking officers for their work. One person sent a plant to the chief’s office, he said.
“We get a lot of nice feedback from the community,” Manger said, “but on a day like today we got more than normal.”
