Statement in regards to my previous Letter resigning from My Police Union
July 8th, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: @JuliusGivens
I am no longer a member of the FOP. Per the request in my letter, I have signed my separation papers. Being that I previously publicly specified the reasons I chose to leave, it would be inappropriate for me to critique their organization moving forward.
To the thousands of people who have reached out in support, thank you. When you’re climbing a mountain alone and at a steep incline, every extra cheer and well wish is felt in abundance.
To the critics, thank you, too — productive dialogue is a good first step to solving problems. While many of you have made it obvious that you disagree with my position, none of you have laid any concrete counter-evidence on the merit of my position or invalidated my arguments. That said, I will address several of your common themes:
- Some have said, I am not “the police” and my tenure thus far has been too short for me to speak out. To them I say, look at the data. The most challenging problem for law enforcement in our city is gun violence. To date, I have the most gun recoveries of all three patrol-watches in my district this year — each recovery self initiated. The most recent came off of an attempt murder offender trying to flee. I chased him and arrested him just minutes after the shooting. While there are many aspects to policing, violent crime and guns is where…
