Union City Police Chief's Letter to Citizens

Union City, CA — Following the deaths of several police officers in Dallas Thursday night, Union City Police Chief Darryl McAllister published an open letter to residents on the department's Facebook page.

• UPDATED: Dallas Snipers Kill 4 Officers, Wound 7, During Protest Over Police Killings Of Black Men

Patch is publishing the letter in its entirety, to assure that more residents see the letter:

My fellow Union Citians:
It is way, way too early to speculate on the rightfulness, wrongfulness, or precipitating circumstances of the officer-involved shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota over the past two days. The facts in those incidents will likely bear themselves out as the investigations unfold. But, regardless of what those facts eventually reveal, our hearts hurt in Union City—the hearts of community members and police officers alike—for the tragic events that unfolded this evening in Dallas. As of this writing, at least 11 police officers were ambushed by snipers while the officers tried to oversee an organized protest regarding the recent events in Louisiana and Minnesota. At least four of the 11 or more Dallas officers have died.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s not supposed to be like this. While fractured communities grapple to find common ground with their police officers and law enforcement officials, communities like Union City, fortunate to enjoy a positive and healthy relationship with their own police, are still affected. We do, by way of human compassion, find ourselves writhing in heartfelt frustration as we watch these huge (and in some cases, deadly) tensions unfold in other places. We are not benign, nor are we immune, to the national drumbeat of police-community distrust, as it continually threatens to stand in the way of the positive, productive narrative that vast majority of us devotedly seek regarding police-community trust.

This is a very difficult time to be in policing. It is also, without question, one of the most challenging times we’ve ever seen for law enforcement to pave the way for trust and kinship. So many of us are trying to demonstrate a positive alternative to the pervasively negative stigma that does not represent the truly fantastic police work that occurs every day, all over the nation. It’s a daunting task to keep our officers energized, focused, and positively engaged amidst the recent scandals or terrible stories unveiled on the evening news.

We want you, the community of Union City, to know that we, the Union City Police Department remain committed to you. Despite our own heartfelt frustrations about the trouncing of the law enforcement profession lately, both locally and nationally, we in Union City will continue to do our best in engaging with you; we stay true to being efficient and professional in providing service to you, and we do so with an enormous sense of pride. We want you to know how much we truly appreciate the strong support we receive from you, our community, on a daily basis. We value, with limitless stock, the trust you so readily invest in us—despite the ugliness of recent events that bring doubt, question, or stigma to our profession. Thank you for being in kinship with us, engaging with us, and trusting in us.

Please grieve with us for the unimaginable loss of life in Dallas.

Chief McAllister

Image via City of Union City