HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/16/2020 Item Public Comment, Rowley
From:Purrington, Teresa
Sent:Monday, June 15, 2020 10:03 AM
To:CityClerk
Subject:FW: Public Comment, June 16, 2020
From: Sandra Rowley <
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2020 1:06 PM
To: Harmon, Heidi <hharmon@slocity.org>; Gomez, Aaron <agomez@slocity.org>; Christianson, Carlyn
<cchristi@slocity.org>; Pease, Andy <apease@slocity.org>; Stewart, Erica A <estewart@slocity.org>
Cc: Johnson, Derek <djohnson@slocity.org>; Cantrell, Deanna <DCantrel@slocity.org>; Purrington, Teresa
<TPurring@slocity.org>
Subject: Public Comment, June 16, 2020
Mayor Harmon and Members of the Council,
My sincere appreciation goes out to Chief Cantrell and our police department. We owe these officers a lot for
keeping the peace and for limiting damage to our downtown stores.
Although the demonstration held on June 1st began peacefully, it did not remain so. I cannot imagine being
a person who has chosen a profession which is dedicated to protecting people and property, and then being
assailed with taunts of “f ” the police. I cannot imagine standing pat like our police officers did while rocks
and bottles were thrown at them. And I cannot imagine this happening in San Luis Obispo where at least we
used to be able to engage in discussion rather than harassment.
Comments from those involved in the demonstrations have included a desire for you, the City Council, to ban
the use of various crowd-control measures, including tear gas, that are designed to disburse unruly crowds. I
imagine that police officers would like you to ban use of the rocks, bottles, and other projectiles that were or
could be directed at them - but unruly crowds by their nature do not abide by such restrictions.
Our police department needs all of the tools available to them to keep officers, other protest participants, and
the rest of us safe. I urge you not to limit the resources/tools available to our police. To do so could have
serious negative unintended consequences in the future.
The San Luis Obispo Police Department supports those who live, work and visit here. It is right - and proper -
for us to support them.
Sincerely,
Sandra Rowley
SLO Resident
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