I’m in Castle Rock where a rally in support of local police will start in about 15 minutes. The crowd is gathering in Festival Park and will march to the veteran’s monument a couple blocks down, then finish at the steps of police headquarters and cheer for CRPD.

Organizer Robert Zearing hopes to lift morale among police amid national police brutality protests & let them know the community sees cops who do their job correctly. Zearing said he supports BLM & participated in two protests held here earlier this month in solidarity with BLM.

“We’re with them 100%. We’re for equality and social justice,” he said of BLM. Zearing thinks to address police brutality all sides need to come together, he said, decrying racial injustice and supporting police who do their jobs correctly.

Large crowd on the march downtown. Not sure this video shows it’s true size.

More vid of the march.

Chants of “Back the blue” breaking out as the crowd masses on steps of police station downtown. Some folks still marching their way here.

I truly have no clue if this tweet is posting multiple times. My service is so spotty. ANYWAY. Crowd cheered on steps of police station for more than a minute. As loud as they could at request of event leader.

The event at times looked like a 4th of July celebration. American flags everywhere and folks decked out in red, white and blue. These women are from Evergreen and came to support the march after hearing about it on Randy Corporon’s radio show (the attorney representing C&C).

The event lasted roughly an hour. People were still hanging in Festival Park afterwards though, listening to live music and talking.

I spoke with Chief Jack Cauley. He came out to talk with marchers and thank people for support. He said locally his officers’ morale is good and there has been strong community support for them during weeks of COVID/protests. People leaving food and cards at the station everyday.

But Cauley also expressed ample frustration with news media and the national narrative toward police right now.

“I think that when you paint a profession with a broad brush like has been done with our profession now it is not right and it is not accurate.”

I asked if he felt any of the criticism toward police right now is justified. He said there are particular incidents that warrant it. He was clear he feels police are being broad rushed right now as all bad.

“And certainly there are changes that law enforcement agencies throughout the country need to make. However, there is also a lot of good work being done by law enforcement officers every single day that right now is being overshadowed,” Cauley said.

A couple weeks ago the Chief was taking a knee with marchers at a protest held here in solidarity with BLM. In regard to BLM, Cauley said ”it’s important for people to have the opportunity to voice their concerns and we support everybody, everybody’s ideas and thoughts.”

Scenes from the rally in Castle Rock today.