Law enforcement officers show up at City Hall to support Chief Allen

Dozens of El Paso Police officers, Border Patrol agents, and county sheriff’s deputies showed up at City Hall to show their support for embattled El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen.

Last Friday, the county organized a news conference to show its solidarity with the City of Dallas and its police department in the wake of the deadly police ambush.

Allen did not speak during the news conference, but met briefly with reporters after it ended. A reporter asked Allen what he thought about the Black Lives Matter movement. The police chief responded: “Black Lives Matter, as far as I’m concerned is a radical hate group, and for that purpose alone, I think the leadership of this country needs to look a little bit harder at that particular group. The consequences of what we saw in Dallas is due to their efforts.”

Saturday, El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar sent out a letter expressing disappointment and concern with Chief Allen’s comments. The letter sent was signed by other locally elected leaders and members of the local NAACP chapter.

Monday, Allen issued a statement in which he defended his comments. “Having to endure hearing and seeing the negative actions that are taking place at some ‘Black Lives Matter’ events truly disturbs me. For example, in New York City, the protestors were chanting, ‘What do you want?’ and the response was ‘dead cops.'”

Allen also mentioned ‘Black Lives Matter’ supporters in Harlem and New York were cheering after police officers were killed in Dallas.

The president of the municipal police officers association spoke before City Council Tuesday. “When did (Escobar) become our overseer? It kind of baffled me. Who are you, being the county judge, to send a letter to the city of El Paso, our mayor, and our council chastising our chief. Be a little bit more professional about it? Call him,” Ron Martin asked.

Also during public comment Tuesday, an El Paso resident called on Chief Allen to resign and asked City Council to take immediate action if Allen does not offer his resignation. “I would hope that Chief Allen would have the humility to recognize the degree of damage he has brought upon the image of the already vilified men and women in blue who serve us every day and that he would recognize that he does not exemplify the cool-headed objectivity needed to lead the police force and should therefore submit his resignation,” the man, who did not identify himself, said.

Eric Howard, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces combat veteran, spoke against the group of elected leaders who sent a letter to city council denouncing Chief Allen’s comments.

“It appears the only members of the community they want to protect are those who pay their campaign contributions and vote them into office. They continually ignore and demean those who do not support their progressive agenda,” Howard said, “If Chief Allen were White, he would already be fired. The political backlash would be horrendous right now.”