Around a hundred people waving black, white and blue American flags and holding signs with pro-police slogans gathered for a rally outside the House of Delegates building in Annapolis Thursday to support law enforcement.
Six Republican Maryland delegates, including two from Anne Arundel County, organized the Back The Blue rally to show support for men and women in uniform, including Anne Arundel Police Chief Tim Altomare, who announced his retirement less than two days ago.
Altomare, who will retire effective Aug. 1, warned about the vilification of police and calls for reform he said could have disastrous effects on the country.
“Folks, something bad is happening in this country, and in this county,” Altomare said. “Your cops are the good guys.”
He also dispelled rumors that County Executive Steuart Pittman forced him out of the job.
“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said. “I do think he is caught between a rock and a hard place. And the silence of the majority is not helping him at all to make decisions about who are the good guys and who aren’t.”
Pittman announced Wednesday the suspension of an officer named in a lawsuit claiming he kneeled on the neck of a Black man from Odenton in 2019. Asked at the rally if he had ordered the suspension, Altomare said: “Of course, I’m the chief.”
Pittman has also talked about possible reforms, such as an executive order to ban neck holds by police. He announced last month that this year’s budget would include funding for body-worn cameras.
Similar
pro-police rallies have bubbled up in other parts of the country in response to the Black Lives Matter protests. Those protests have grown months after a white Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The movement has launched accusations of systemic racism in the institution of policing and calls for reforms.
Two rally organizers, Del. Sid Saab, R-Crownsville, and Severna Park Republican Del. Brian Chisholm, said the event is separate from the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We need their support and they need ours,” Saab said of police. “The purpose of the rally is just to show the police community support.”
Del. Haven Shoemaker, R-Carroll County, and another organizer, assured police officers that a silent majority, those who support law enforcement but do not speak out, are behind them. He later made reference to an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld called “The Bizarro Jerry,” in which everything is the opposite.
“Right now, up is down, right is wrong, wrong is right, the criminals are the victims, the victims are the criminals and the police are bad,” he said. “At least that’s the narrative of a small but very vocal minority.”
After Shoemaker, Carroll County Sheriff Jim DeWees said the residents of his county love and support the police and have “a high expectation for police officers with integrity and character.”
Former and current law enforcement officers attended the rally, including Pat Bassler, a 30-year retired police veteran from Carroll County.
“These are my friends. These are the people I have always worked with. I love them to death,” Bassler said. “I don’t feel like they aren’t being treated completely right.”
Tom Perrell, a former federal law enforcement officer and Laurel resident, held a Thin Blue Line flag at the back of the crowd.
“I’m here to back up my brothers and sisters that don’t have a voice to let them know there are people who support them,” he said.
Anne Arundel County Sheriff Jim Fredericks, who stood a few steps away, said it is nice to recognize law enforcement but that people in the profession never ask for it.
“Really whether one person or a thousand people show up, it’s just wonderful to have someone come out and say it,” Fredericks said.
At the county forum Wednesday night, Lt. Charles Ravenell, commander of the Community Relations Section for the Anne Arundel County Police, said it is important to acknowledge the wide variety of duties officers can have on any given day, officers who do the job well and the flaws of the institution.
“We are tasked with addressing all of society’s ills, and we do it most times with great honor and dignity. So I applaud those righteous police officers,” said Ravenell, one of about 80 Black officers among about 700 in the department. “I also want to not excuse my profession of policing. If we say that there’s racism in the general population, in general society, and we get police officers from the general population in general society, then we’ve got to admit that there’s racism in policing.”
If the community is unwilling to address both of these sides of policing, Ravenell said the cycle would continue.
Saab said that while he acknowledges that some policing reforms may be necessary, he wants to show local law enforcement support. He worries morale may be slipping among officers, and that might impact their ability to keep communities safe.
Saab’s participation in the rally comes after he, in late May, encouraged a go-kart track owner in Gambrills to ignore coronavirus restriction orders and open for business.
In a Facebook post about the incident, Saab wrote: “I told the business owner that he should ignore them and stay open… This is his private property, he pays taxes and he’s a job creator.”
Saab said before the rally on Thursday that police failed to show proper documentation for ordering the business to stay closed. Police said in the days after the incident that the delegate was wrong.
Capital reporter Olivia Sanchez contributed to this story.
