That message came from Douglas County Sheriff Dan Coverley this week, a day before the county’s public library system discussed a proposed diversity statement that mentions they “support #BlackLivesMatter.”
“Because of your support for Black Lives Matter and the obvious lack of support or trust with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, you don’t feel the need to call 911 for help,” the sheriff wrote in a public letter to the the library on Monday. “I wish you good luck with the riots and lewd behavior, as those are just some of the recent calls that my office has helped you in the past.”
The sheriff and the director of the library system said they discussed the matter the next day and agreed that it had been an “unfortunate circumstance of misunderstanding.”
The meeting to discuss the statement was taking place on Tuesday, but has now been rescheduled for an unspecified date.
The library’s proposed declaration of diversity says in part that it “denounces all acts of violence, racism and contempt for human rights. We support” BlackLivesMatter. We firmly affirm and believe that all forms of racism, hatred, inequality and injustice do not belong to our society. “
He added that the system had signed the Declaration of the Council of Urban Libraries on Race and Social Equity, signed by 180 public libraries in the United States and Canada, pledging to make their communities “more inclusive and just.”
Coverley’s letter called the death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis police custody in May, “tragic and preventable,” but later said that “the data simply does not support claims that the police are systematically racist or structurally biased. ” That language, as well as the first four paragraphs of the letter, are taken word for word from a letter sent to leaders in Congress by various state attorneys general and sheriff’s associations in June, requesting help to combat “anti-rhetoric Police “.
But data has shown that African-Americans are at increased risk of being killed by police, despite being less likely to pose an objective threat to law enforcement, according to research by Professor Matt Miller of Northeastern University. .
Other research, from George Mason University and the University of Georgia, found in 2018 that when it comes to misdemeanors, “There is a profound racial disparity in the misdemeanor arrest rate for most, but not all, types of crimes. “
On Tuesday, the day after Coverley’s public letter, he and the director of the Douglas County Library, Amy Dodson, issued a joint statement on the matter.
The two had a “very candid conversation,” Dodson said in the statement.
“We agreed that we both support the people of Douglas County and this may have been an unfortunate circumstance of misunderstanding,” Dodson said. “The library respects and supports the work of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and appreciates everything they do to keep our community safe.”
“This has been a difficult time to be a law enforcement professional and it can be daunting when we perceive that our office may be under attack,” Coverley said in the statement. “My response was based on my belief that these issues should be openly discussed in a way that values diversity and law enforcement.”
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