Covering an entire page in the Daily Item’s June 5 edition, an ad from the Lynn Police Department spelled out admissions and promises in stark, straight-forward language.
“We took an oath as police officers to protect people,” states the message signed by 169 officers, including Police Chief Michael Mageary and department deputy chiefs, captains, lieutenants, sergeants and officers.
The message begins with the words, “On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was killed …”
It goes on to state that the video of Floyd’s death “… gives officers the same feelings of anger and disgust that it does all citizens.”
That sentence highlights a reality that has not received much attention in the almost three weeks since Floyd’s death galvanized and accelerated global calls for racial justice and policing reform.
Police officers aren’t nameless, faceless people in uniforms. They are husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, neighbors. Their children attend local schools. They help out with school sports. They raise money for community causes. Their friendships and relationships extend across racial lines.
But their job is different from the work many other Americans perform. Police officers, as the June 5 message reminds us, take an oath “to protect people” and that oath, as the message asserts, is contrary to what occurred on May 25 in Minneapolis.
Calls for action and discussions on racial justice and policing are echoing across the country. The Lynn police in their message pledged to “… work with the community …” But they also made an admission and a promise by stating their commitment “… to restore the trust that has been damaged as a result of this incident.”
“We are all in this together,” reads the message’s final sentence.
Those six words are an invitation for Lynn’s citizens, for the community, to become part of the discussion on how police protect people and on how “… to restore the trust that has been damaged …” Who will initiate the discussion? Former President Barack Obama last week said the job lies with elected officials and it is the job of citizens to not let elected officials off the hook when it comes to racial justice and police reform.
The Lynn police promised in black and white to do the work to restore trust. We support the Lynn Police Department and its mission.