The Dallas police officers murdered in the deadly 2016 downtown ambush will be honored at next week’s police memorial ceremony, but one of the city’s largest police organizations on Tuesday told the mayor he’s not welcome.
Police Memorial Day will be held on May 17 and it’s expected to be the largest the city has seen in years since it’s less than a year out from the July 7 downtown ambush shooting that left five officers dead.
But the Dallas Fraternal Order of Police released a letter Tuesday telling Mayor Mike Rawlings they don’t want him to show up.
Fox 4 reports that the letter wrote by FOP President Michael Walton states, “Mr. Rawlings, the rhetoric that you have displayed over the past several years towards police has hit an all-time high.”
Walton goes on to say that the widows of the officers slain on July 7, retired officers and current officers “are left suffering due to the low pay, and officers are leaving in record number under your watch.”
Walton said several of the widows and several officers asked him to ask Rawlings not to come.
Walton said the mayor will make it about him, like he did after the active shooter situation last week, in which a Dallas Fire-Rescue paramedic was shot.