USA TODAY International Edition
Handshakes and hugs for the cops in Cleveland
Plenty of thanks for ‘ thankless job’ in most policed U. S. city this week
Sometimes they approach cautiously, other times full of confidence, with a smile and an outstretched hand. “Thank you!” “Thanks for your service.” “We appreciate you.” Despite their overwhelming numbers, police patrolling the Republican National Convention here are being treated less like an occupying force and more like respected members of the community, no matter where they’re from. More than 2,000 officers from more than a dozen states are working in Cleveland this week, alongside local officers.
“I appreciate the work they do. Their lives are on the line at all times,” said 7- Eleven clerk Eddie Vernon, after shaking an officer’s hand near Public Square. They “really do appreciate it. They will almost break your hand shaking it, they appreciate it so much.”
Vernon, who is black, says he goes out of his way to show respect and appreciation for police officers. He’s all too aware of the way many members of the black community feel about cops these days, he says.
The killings of officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge this month by men who deliberately targeted them has law enforcement on edge across the country. And right now, Cleveland is the most heavily policed city in America, packed with a roiling stew of vari- ous protest groups, anarchists and Republican delegates.
Montana delegate Art Wittich said he thinks it’s important the public shows support for police, who are doing a sometimes dangerous and often “thankless job.”
“I have definitely seen it, definitely shaken hands, given a smile and said thanks,” he said.
Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said visitors — and even many protesters — have been thanking officers, which hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“The mood is good,’’ Williams said. “They are taking pictures with people.’’
Even when some members of the police bicycle unit became targets of stinging verbal taunts by a pair of anti- police protesters during a march earlier this week, other demonstrators intervened, shouting good wishes to the cops.
And Wednesday afternoon, as officers broke up a flag- burning protest and pushed the crowd back onto the sidewalk, several Republican delegates and their guests loudly thanked the officers and broke out singing America the Beautiful. That clash, which police say started when a flag burner accidentally lit himself on fire, turned chaotic as 17 people were arrested and two officers suffered minor injuries.
Williams joined in a prayer circle with protesters and passersby in a public park Wednesday evening. Earlier, about 25 officers marching down the street to a disturbance received a loud ovation from diners at a cafe.
Bryan Hambley, an organizer for the Stand Against Trump group, credited police with transforming the anxiety- ridden preparations for the convention into a largely peaceful event so far.
“The police are doing a great job, and the protesters are doing a great job,’’ he said.