The recent death of George Floyd has brought out crowds of protesters to stand up against systemic racism. Along with the protesters, police officers from Minneapolis, Atlanta, and South Florida’s SWAT unit have resigned.
What We Know:
- During the recent weeks, the community has been demanding justice for the recent deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor as well as the other victims who have died due to police brutality.
- Minneapolis has received at least 7 resignation letters and many are still in the “process of leaving”. Along with their resignations, they said the following in their open letter last week:
“Derek Chauvin failed as a human and stripped George Floyd of his dignity and life. This is not who we are.”
- Many took to Twitter with mixed emotions.
Sadly, it is often the quality employees that resign in a situation such as this…those who will have the easiest time finding other employment. This may only make a bad situation worse.
— James Meredith (@NDTwinsfan) June 13, 2020
https://twitter.com/BMcenry/status/1271938719340249088?s=20
- Along with Minneapolis, Atlanta has also become a center of protests due to the recent killing of Rayshard Brooks. The cop who killed him has been fired and another has been put on administrative duty.
“The trust that we have with the police force is broken.”
The family of Rayshard Brooks, a black man who was killed by Atlanta police last week, speak out. pic.twitter.com/7fhI0Y0LkZ
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 16, 2020
- At least 19 officers have resigned since the start of the movement in 2020 and Atlanta’s police chief has stepped down.
- South Florida’s SWAT unit has resigned due to safety concerns as well as feeling “restrained by the politicization of tactics” according to CNN.
- The letter was sent to Hallandale Beach Police Chief Sonia Quinones along with their comments on being “displeased” after some of the staff had taken the “knee” on Monday.
This photo shows an amazing moment where a South Florida Police Chief knelt with members of the community against racism. This single act made this community safer. 10 of her SWAT members got angry about it, issued a political statement and resigned from SWAT, but not the PD. pic.twitter.com/rV5e9HQjO5
— altNOAA (@altNOAA) June 14, 2020
- In the open letter the 10 officers gave, it stated the following:
“Until these conditions and sentiments are rectified and addressed, we cannot safely, effectively and in good faith carry out duties in this capacity without putting ourselves and our families at this needless increased level of risk.”
- Hallandale Beach Police Chief Sonia Quinones expressed her “disappointment” on how the officers handled the situation and did not voice out their concerns and stated that up to this point if they are not “connecting” or “communicating” they are still not resolving concerns.
- She later mentioned to CNN how she did not “kneel” to oppose police but to stand with the community.
The recent protests over the killing of innocent members of society are still ongoing as well as the trial on Derek Chauvin who killed George Floyd.
