Community supports Redmond police after shootings

Since five officers were fatally shot and seven others wounded Thursday in Dallas, Redmond police say they’ve been heartened by support from the community, much like many police agencies around the country.

“It’s been really neat to see people come out and thank people on the street. I’ve had a few individuals even give me the thumbs up as they were driving by today,” Sgt. Aaron Wells said Monday.

Schools, churches and community members have been delivering sweets, flowers and cards of encouragement to the Redmond Police Department.

“The outpouring has been truly amazing. The support of our community means the world,” said Capt. Brian McNaughton.

While NewsChannel 21 was interviewing officers about the community support, Mindy Holliday stopped by with her two sons to personally thank officers and drop off dinner for the night crew.

Holliday said she wanted to teach her boys the value of showing respect and appreciation for police officers.

“My heart goes out to them,” she said. “We’ve got officers in our family, and they’ve got a tough job.”

Since last week’s shootings in Dallas, Redmond police say they’ve had a heightened sense of awareness.

“Our officers are just having to be a little more vigilant. We don’t want anybody to be hyper-sensitive and drawing guns on people when they’re reaching for their identification or anything like that,” McNaughton said. Instead, he is encouraging officers to slow down.

Last week, an officer in Minnesota shot a man reportedly reaching for his wallet during a routine traffic stop. The aftermath of the incident was caught on camera and shared online. In recent months, more officer-involved shootings are being caught on camera and sparking nationwide debate.

“I think what’s kind of been the toughest part of all these videos is that we don’t have the whole story,” Wells said. “Before we can get the whole story, opinion is floating out there of what happened.”

Wells said the videos tend to portray all officers in the same light. He said he wants people to know that Redmond police are doing their best to protect the community.

The residents we spoke with agreed that Redmond police are doing a good job and are under-appreciated.

“With current events there’s been a lot of sticky situations, but a few bad apples shouldn’t spoil the whole bunch,” Holliday said.