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‘This City Needs Cops And It Needs A Lot More Of Them’: DC Police Union Chairman Says After RNC Riots

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Police officers in Washington, D.C. have worked long shifts without days off and sustained injuries while responding to protests over the last week in the district, the head of the DC Police Union told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

DC Police Union Chairman Greggory Pemberton said that protesters around the country should be arrested and prosecuted if they are found responsible for crimes. He added that the demand protests put on the department leaves neighborhoods vulnerable since officers who would be stationed there are being pulled to address the riots.

A protester sits and yells on the hood of a Metropolitan Police Department Car in Washington, D.C. on July 25, 2020. Photo – Kaylee Greenlee / Daily Caller News Foundation)

“Over this past week beginning with the [Republican National Convention], demonstrators and rioters have once again proved the opposite of their agenda. This city needs cops and it needs a lot more of them. The department has suspended our schedules and suspended days off; many members are working 18 plus hours straight,” Pemberton told the DCNF.

“The demand to have hundreds of police officers downtown to address these riots takes officers out of our most vulnerable neighborhoods, which delays the service we provide to citizens,” Pemberton added.

One of our members was transported to the hospital last night with vision loss after a rioter directed a laser into his eye. This is the sixth officer hospitalized since Thursday night.

— DC Police Union (@DCPoliceUnion) August 30, 2020

Two MPD officers reportedly sustained potential permanent vision loss after protesters shined lasers at their eyes, Pemberton told the DCNF.

“With crime spiking due to irresponsible and ham-fisted police reform efforts, it is long past time that cities around the country get serious about arresting those responsible for these crimes and that the prosecutors and courts hold them accountable,” Pemberton told the DCNF.

Black Lives Matter DC said MPD “protects Trump’s folks” like the Proud Boys, in response to Republican National Convention guests receiving police escorts to their hotels after the event ended.

And like they did with the proud boys and Richard Spencer, @DCPoliceDept protects Trump’s folks. https://t.co/zt29iWrxpD

— Black Lives Matter DC (@DMVBlackLives) August 31, 2020

BLM DC described the scene near the White House early Sunday morning as a “war zone” and referred to MPD as a “violent terror gang”

.@councilofdc once again tonight @MayorBowser and @ChiefNewsham violent terror gang the @DCPoliceDept in full effect. DC is a War Zone. This is not Trump Secret Service this is @MurielBowser Police Department. Go see for yourself, they always show up like this after midnight. https://t.co/8zbid6kJEv

— Black Lives Matter DC (@DMVBlackLives) August 31, 2020

Pemberton testified in Dec. 2017 that he thinks there is a “cottage industry of people who just want to make money” who “gum up the works” for “genuine activists,” though he reportedly said he wasn’t talking about BLM, according to HuffPost.