Clark County Sheriff Chuck Atkins was relaxing at home Thursday night when his wife alerted him to the news. They both sat glued to the television, taking in the horrific details of a sniper-style shooting in Dallas that left five police officers dead and seven others wounded.
He didn’t sleep well and woke up Friday morning with a sick feeling in his gut that he said he can only liken to how he felt when processing the news of the Sept. 11 attacks 15 years ago.
“But, I got up, put on the uniform, put on the vest and headed out to work,” he said. “That’s what we do.”
Officers, deputies and troopers will likely have their head on a swivel for the next few days, Atkins said, as the fresh news sinks in.
The targeted police shooting happened while hundreds of people were gathered to protest the death of black people at the hands of police in Baton Rouge, La., and suburban St. Paul, Minn. The Dallas shooter, who was killed by a robot-delivered bomb after a standoff, told officers that he was upset about the recent police shootings and wanted to kill whites, “especially white officers.”
But Atkins points out that those officers were there to protect the protesters, too.
“We have no problem with peaceful protest, that’s the American way,” he said. “We’re not out looking to do things against our community, we’re out there trying to protect them.”
Atkins said you have to look no further than the news images taken when the gunfire broke out.
“While the general population is fleeing for cover, who do you see running toward the danger, toward the threat? It’s the law enforcement, it’s the police. That’s our charge,” he said.
On Friday, Atkins and other local law enforcement leaders showed their support to fellow officers through messages to their staff.
Vancouver Police Department Chief James McElvain woke up to the news and wrote an email to his staff showing his appreciation.
“It’s bewildering that we’ve come to this as a country,” he said. “At the same time, men and women still do this job … despite the craziness that’s going on, they choose to come to work and in a professional way, serve to protect our community.”
McElvain said he understood the frustration on the behalf of those protesting, but questioned how to move forward.
“How do you get to peace? How do you get to a resolution that we really represent and work with the community?” he asked.
Later on Friday, McElvain, Atkins and other local law enforcement officers held a small, impromptu vigil with their families at Vancouver police’s central precinct.
Garry Lucas, former Clark County sheriff and interim Ridgefield police chief, said that his national perspective of law enforcement is that local agencies should be getting more federal support.
Lucas is a member of the national Commission of Accreditation for Law Enforcement, which sets standards for law enforcement agencies around the country.
The Department of Justice investigates incidents, Lucas said, but doesn’t follow up or provide other resources.
“They just march away into the sunset,” he said. “What I don’t see happening is a proactive approach of the Department of Justice, to offer training, equipment, leadership to law enforcement executives around the country.”
He said that another solution is to make sure the community and law enforcement build good relationships early.
“It seems to me that we as citizens have to be engaged in building community,” he said. Once things erupt, however, “it’s impossible to build relationships.”
