Message from Ken Palmer, Mayor of Manchester

My ears, eyes and heart cannot believe the utter horror we have seen over the past couple of weeks. Violence against our police will never be the solution or tolerated. We are a nation of laws that define what’s right and wrong. Our police enforce those laws. By doing so they put themselves in the line of fire so we can be safe. How can the police here in Manchester and across the country not feel enraged, confused and scared — they are only human. These senseless killings only cause more anger and drive a wedge between the police and those who feel under-represented, abused and ignored. As the Chief of Police of Dallas said, he’s accepting applications for those willing to fix the problem. On my end, here locally, as your Mayor I ask each of you to show our support for “our” police department by lighting up this town in blue. Please go and put a blue light in your outside fixtures, tie some blue ribbons on your trees and thank our officers if you get a chance. Keep the blue lights on until National Night Out, August 2. I hope to see you at Lowe’s tomorrow getting some Blue Lights. Thank you Manchester PD and all law enforcement across the country.