The SWAT team in Hallandale Beach, Florida resigned on Friday in response to Police Chief Sonia Quinones kneeling with Black Lives Matter protesters. The police chief has set up a meeting with the officers to discuss their resignation. I don’t blame them for quitting. How can you quell violent rioting by BLM knowing that your boss has taken their side? You would be putting your life in danger by trying not to offend the rioters and looters.
SWAT officers said in addition to being under trained and minimally equipped, they were angry because the chief knelt with BLM in a show of unity. The officers resigned shortly thereafter. SWAT teams from neighboring towns will handle any situation that comes up while the police chief tries to con the officers into coming back.
Via Miami Herald:
The 10 members of the Hallandale Beach Police Department’s SWAT team have stepped down from their roles, citing among other grievances anger over the city’s police chief kneeling with protesters earlier this week, a memo the officers signed read. They will remain with the police department.
On Friday evening, Hallandale Beach received a memo from the members of the SWAT team with a list of grievances, Hallandale Beach City Manager Greg Chavarria said.
In the memo, the officers say the SWAT team was minimally equipped, under trained and restrained. The memo says the safety of dogs was given priority over the safety of the officers at times.
“The risk of carrying out our duties in this capacity is no longer acceptable to us and our families,” the memo says. “The anguish and stress of knowing that what we may be lawfully called upon to do in today’s political climate combined with the team’s current situation and several recent local events., leaves us in a position that is untenable.”
These are not the first officers to resign because of this type of action by the upper echelon of their police forces. They may love their jobs but not nearly as much as they value their lives.