More than 200 people waved placards, played bagpipes, cheered and gave speeches Saturday at Civic Center park in support of police in the wake of an anti-police shooting that claimed the lives of two New York City officers.
The rally came as Rafael Ramos, one of two slain officers, was being buried in New York. The funeral for his partner, Wenjian Liu, has not been scheduled.
Denver’s event, near the Greek Amphitheater, was organized on Facebook by “Blue Lives Matter,” initiated by Kathy Garcia-Palmer.
She said she originally intended to invite a few friends and family, but in less than a week, 8,000 people shared the Facebook posting and hundreds came to the rally in frigid temperatures.
“I honor what you do,” Garcia-Palmer said to the crowd. She urged attendees to wear blue to show their solidarity.
Attendees waved signs that said “Blue Love” and “Blue Lives Matter.”
“It’s time to get behind our law enforcement,” said Jennifer Witkowski. “Back them all the way because my special friends may someday save your life.”
Stephanie Haley-Andrews, the wife of a police officer, read an e-mail she received from a cop thanking her for helping to organize the rally.
“We are worn down. We are tired, and for the first time many of us are wondering if we made a mistake getting into this line of work,” the e-mail said. “There was a time when police work was considered an honor. But now I wake up worrying the citizens I care for so much have turned their backs on me.”
Haley-Andrews said the number of officers killed in ambush attacks in 2014 is 12, three times the annual average.
“We must never forget that our officers are the most visible and vulnerable symbols of the freedoms we so dearly cherish,” she said. “They are willing to lay down their lives for us.”
Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith told the crowd that officers around the country make 11 million arrests a year. Only 400 people are fatally shot even though officers are assaulted 60,000 times a year, Smith said.
Lethal force is used in only one out of 27,500 times that a law enforcement officer has contact with a citizen, he said.
Before killing Ramos and Liu, Ismaaiyl Brinsley had posted online statements about how he was angry that grand juries declined to indict police officers in the shooting deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner on Staten Island, N.Y.
Brinsley committed suicide minutes after shooting the officers.
