An entire SWAT team from Hallandale Beach, Florida, resigned on Friday after the town’s chief of police took a knee with protesters demanding an investigation into a 2014 raid in which an African-American man was shot and killed.
The ten-person team submitted a letter of resignation to their police chief where they took issue with Vice Mayor Sabrina Javellana for comparing the team to the Minneapolis Police Department. Officers from the Minneapolis Police Department killed an African-American man, George Floyd, on May 25. His killing has sparked mass protests all over the country.
“The risk of carrying out our duties in this capacity is no longer acceptable to us and our families,” the officers wrote.
“The anguish and stress of knowing that what we may be lawfully called upon to do in today’s political climate combined with the team’s current situation and several recent local events, leave us in a position that is untenable.”
“The team is minimally equipped, under trained and oftentimes restrained by the politicization of our tactics to the extent of placing the safety of dogs over the safety of the team members,” they added.
The officers quit the SWAT team but did not resign from the Hallandale police force.