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“We’re both saddened and guarded,” Fairfield Lt. James Perez said just days after two New York City police officers were gunned down in an assassination over the weekend. “I think it rattles the very essence of policing. It really highlights the dangers of the profession.”
In the coming days, hundreds of officers from around the country will gather to pay their final respects to the fallen officers, who were shot without warning Dec. 20 while on special duty in a high-crime area in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.
Perez said two officers will go to the funeral to represent the Fairfield Police Department's 180 officers. But he does not fear the funerals will be a target for further violence against officers.
“I’m not worried,” Perez said. “New York City constantly deals with government officials, delegates and VIPs. They’ll secure the area for the officers.”
For Perez, the tragic deaths of the two officers at the hands of a lone shooter who took his own life just moments later is an unwelcome opportunity to denounce “harmful rhetoric” that has harmed a meaningful movement for change.
“It seems that people tend to concentrate on the few bad apples, but most (police officers) throughout the country are hard working and are here to serve and protect,” Perez said. “Any destructive rhetoric needs to stop. People need to be focusing on meaningful conversations,” surrounding these national events.
The shocking shootings came as protests continued over the failure of grand juries to indict white police officers for their roles in the shooting deaths of two African-American men, Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City.
Perez agreed that the resulting issue has evolved into a polarizing debate. The events that unfolded over the weekend have only exacerbated the racial divide, he said.
“These events demonstrate how quickly we can go from one side of the (argument) to the other side, and terrify both sides at the same time,” Perez said.
But Fairfield police will continue to fight for citizens' constitutional rights, despite the recent double murder, he said.
“People have the constitutional right to protest,” Perez said. “Police will take the steps to protect their rights, even if we don’t necessarily agree with their message.”
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