A powerful video is going viral this week showing the moment a female police officer of color confronted Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez to her face over the proposed budget cuts looming for the city’s police officers in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
Sgt. Jeretta Sanchez, vice president of the L.A. police union, made her disdain for Black Lives Matter known as she confronted Rodriguez, saying that she and city officials had “bowed down” to the organization.
“You bowed down to Black Lives Matter. These police officers that are out here protecting this city … protecting it from being on fire. If it wasn’t for them, this city would be burned down right now. I promise you this union will go to our grave fighting,” Sanchez told Rodriguez on Friday as her fellow officers applauded her. “We’re not letting this happen to these officers. It’s not right.”
Not stopping there, Sanchez torched Rodriguez over the idea of giving “$250 million to Black Lives Matter” after officials had placed civilian employees “on furlough because you didn’t have money” and “now you’re finding the money to give?” The officer also highlighted the fact that members of Black Lives Matter threw rocks and bottles at LAPD officers during riots, “cracking their skulls,” yet city officials are still listening to BLM members — “a hundred of them” — instead of the far greater number of “law-abiding citizens” who only want “these officers to protect them.”
“And this is what they do every day,” Sanchez concluded, referring to her fellow cops. “And now you’re cutting from their families, when they put everything on the line? We’re gonna fight.”
As Sanchez walked away, one of her fellow officers said, “We’ll take care of it at the ballot box.”
Video posted of LAPD officers outraged over proposed cuts following protests addressing LA City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez. “Now you’re cutting from their families and they put everything on the line? We are going to fight… At the ballot box.” @CBSLA @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/9YXcMCd3Hd
— JASMINE VIEL (@jasmineviel) June 5, 2020
This came after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced plans to make $250 million in budget cuts and give that money to black communities and other communities of color, with $150 million of that coming directly from the budget of the LAPD.
“We must lead,” Garcetti said, according to KCBS-TV. “I got calls from mayors around the country, some of them saying, ‘I’m so excited,’ the other ones saying, ‘What the hell did you do? Now I [have to] shift money.’ That’s exactly the point. It starts someplace, and we say we are going to be who we want to be, or we’re going to continue being the killers that we are.”
Americans everywhere are still horrified that Floyd died in police custody, but defunding police officers around the nation is not the answer to writing this wrong. The vast majority of cops are good people who put their lives on the line every day to protect the rest of us, and they deserve our respect and admiration.
This piece was written by PoliZette Staff on June 8, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.
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