PUEBLO — Demonstrators again took to the streets in downtown Pueblo Sunday to bring attention to a passionate issue, this time to support law enforcement.
The demonstrators started outside pueblo police headquarters around 5 p.m., before marching through the Riverwalk and past the Sheriff’s Office.
“Really what our message here today is to let the law enforcement officers of the United States of America know that we support them,” march organizer Yvette Pope said.
They wanted the march to be a show of thanks.
“We just want to be out here to show that we support them,” protester Christina Knowlton said.
At a time when they feel there’s not much going around.
“I think they’re going through an extreme amount of hardship right now,” Pope said. “I think that they are under scrutiny.”
Their thankfulness and appreciation for what law enforcement officers do is what motivated them to leave their homes and take to the streets.
“I had an occasion to have to call recently and I called their non-emergency number,” protester Ed Perry said. “They were there within 5 minutes.”
They want people to know—police are people too.
“Our neighbor is a sheriff’s officer,” Knowlton said. “[My son’s] baseball coach is a police officer.”
And they’re also allowed to speak out.
“As a wife of a detective I’m always worried,” Pope said.
The protesters came to defend the honor of the officers they know well.
“I know they get a bad rap sometimes and we just want to show that not every cop is bad and not every person is bad,” Knowlton said.
And to add their perspective to an ongoing national conversation.
“They have an empathy and a sympathy for individuals, and that’s why they went into the police department, is to serve,” Pope said.
