On Saturday, roughly 100 LAPD officers joined other citizens to march through Hollywood for a pro-police rally to show support for the LAPD and its members.
The rally was organized by the Los Angeles Police Protective League; participants wore T-shirts emblazoned, “Blue Lives Matter” and carried signs reading “Police Lives Matter”, and “They bleed blue.”
The march started at the Hollywood Community Police Station on Wilcox Avenue and finished at the CNN building on Sunset Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Jerretta Sandoz, vice president of the 10,000-member Police Protection League, told the Times:
This is just the beginning of a nationwide campaign. We’ve reached out to police unions in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston and many other cities and they are all on board. Now, we’re searching for a unifying catch phrase and symbol that send this message: Enough is enough. There’s just too much negativity throughout the country related to police work.
LAPD officer Laurie Guillen told CBS Los Angeles, “No matter what the sentiment is, pro-police or anti-police, they’re going to strap on those boots and secure that gun bout and they’re going to go out there and suppress crime, and they’re going to treat the community with respect.”
LAPD Sergeant Eric Rodgers added, “I see it every day, and I know every single officer would rush out, lights and sirens, to come help you.”
As the crowd marched, motorists, including patrol officers and firefighters, honked their horns and used sirens.
On Friday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti claimed that his April 2015 plan to deploy hundreds of elite police officers into troubled neighborhoods and increasing funding for gang-intervention programs has forestalled more violence.
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