3:15
Local family advocate Anny Cochrane testified in the “people to be heard” portion of the meeting, saying that she’s sick of hearing about the Bethel Police Department being understaffed. “For years this is continuing on. We really can t allow our police departments to be so dramatically understaffed that they lose the ability to protect and serve the communities that need that,” said Cochrane.
“It really comes down to the basics. The Bethel police department has a responsibility to ensure that they maintain the public order and safety, enforcing law and preventing, detecting, and investigating the criminal activity,” Cochrane added, saying that because victims of rape really have no other agency to turn to in town, they need to be able to rely on the Bethel Police Department.
A shooting deeply impacts not only the individual who was shot, but the whole community. Bethel Police Chief Richard Simmons said that when shootings happen, people should remember the officers, who are also human and are affected by these tragedies.
“I ve got a police department right now that their hearts hurt. You know, because this affects us deeply,” Simmons said.
Besides the hit to the department’s morale, a police shooting can increase the burden of work on the other officers who weren’t involved. Because of the two separate shooting events, Simmons placed four officers on administrative leave to allow them time to emotionally process those events.
Credit Bethel Police Department
The investigations into the two shootings by Bethel police from earlier this month are ongoing. Bethel Police Chief Richard Simmons said that the two incidents are unrelated.
“There were completely different personnel on at the time from two different rotations, the persons involved are unrelated, and there was no similarity in how the cases evolved,” Simmons wrote in an email to KYUK. “Bethel’s officers handle weekly violence with weapons calls and felonious assaults, and the potential for things to become very dangerous on calls is real.”
The names of the officers and men who were shot have not been released. Neither have the charges against the suspects.