Harford County Councilman Jim McMahan blasted the vilification of police officers, saying at Tuesday's council meeting that losses of officers in the line of duty "cannot be tolerated," while also suggesting police responding to high crime neighborhoods "probably need grenades."
A resident who has been passing out fliers supporting the police also spoke out at the council meeting.
Michael Wolf, who said he lives in the Bel Air area and is a firefighter, told the council he has passed out about 400 fliers supporting police at the local Maryland State Police barrack, Bel Air Police Department and the Harford County Sheriff's Office.
"The police are friends," Wolf read from his flier, pointing out that residents "see them at the supermarket" or "in the movie lines."
"When you see them, thank them for what they do for they keep us safe," he said. "They are our friends and they should be respected… Instead of berating them and hating them, look in the mirror and ask yourself, society: 'Am I the best I can be?'"
Called upon to give the meeting's opening prayer, McMahan asked those gathered in the council chamber to pray for police officers who respond to residents worried about crime caused by "the unruly" and cited "anarchy in the inner cities."
Later, during the period reserved for council members' comments, McMahan said: "Most of you can tell by my prayer tonight that the loss we are sustaining in our police department cannot be tolerated. Our men and women are being sent into areas with a bag of candy when they probably need grenades."
Many police officers from Baltimore and other jurisdictions outside Harford have called the county home over the years. McMahan's late father, J. Vaughan McMahan Sr., was chief of police in Bel Air for many years in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Dozens of police officers based in Harford County with the Sheriff's Office, State Police and local municipal departments backed up police in Baltimore during riots and demonstrations following the death last month of Freddie Gray from injuries he suffered while riding in the back of a police van following his arrest on a weapons charge.
Six Baltimore City Police Department officers have been charged with crimes by the city's state's attorney in connection with Gray's death, among them Officer Edward Nero, a Bel Air resident. Nero, one of the officers who initially arrested Gray, is charged with two counts of second degree assault, two counts of misconduct in office and one count of false imprisonment, all misdemeanors. He is free on $250,000 bond.
McMahan, 77, noted that since April 27, which "was supposedly the end of the [Baltimore] riots," the city has experienced 19 homicides.
"That's where our police officers are asked to go in and asked to keep the peace and yet they're told, 'Stand back, stand down, don't really exercise your authority as a police officer,'" he said.
He said 51 officers in the U.S. "lost their lives to gunfire, knives, beating, whatever" in 2014, compared to 75 active-duty military who lost their lives during the same period while deployed in Afghanistan.
"We lost three officers in the last eight days, one young officer in New York City and two officers in Mississippi," he said, adding that they were "killed outright for no explanation."
McMahan read a letter from a New York officer who wrote a tribute about his friend, a policeman who was not coming home that night because he was a cop.
The letter references officers who were suspended "for doing my duty" because "my profession was vilified and not deemed important anymore," or who were killed during a routine traffic stop or other calls for service.
"Today I was shot and killed doing my job," McMahan continued reading. "There are not going to be any cries for justice for me, no riots..."
"Only someone crying themselves to sleep tonight will be the only sign that I was cared about," he continued, adding:
"Political correctness or freedom of speech – you can't have them both."
"Thank you, Councilman McMahan, for that," Councilman Chad Shrodes said when McMahan had finished speaking.
Wolf, who spoke at the end of the council meeting, said he does not "like what has been going on TV, people saying, 'Kill police officers.' It's ridiculous. Something has to be done and society has to look in the mirror and say, 'What can we do to make things better? Because our police are very, very important.'"
Wolf said although he is not a police officer, "Somebody sticks a knife in my hose when I'm trying to help them out, I'm going to come out, I'm going to be really mad," referring to news reports that someone slashed a fire hose while firefighters were responding to a blaze at one of the CVS pharmacies in West Baltimore set on fire during the recent violence in the city.