GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – In the wake of the police officers being gunned down in places like Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Green Bay Police Chief Andrew Smith says his department is taking some precautions.
“Right now, you’ll see officers riding two deep to a car,” Chief Smith told the media on Monday. “That’s their option, they can continue to ride alone in the car if they want, but they’ll be given the option to double up.”
On Saturday evening, the department put out a notice that officers could choose that option. They’re also asking officers to not cancel back-up calls if they are riding alone and responding with Green Bay Metro firefighters on some calls.
“I think it’s one of those cautions we take now. I think it’s prudent right now based on everything that’s going on across the country, based on some of the violent anti-police rhetoric that we’ve seen across the country,” said Smith.
Smith does concede that these new measures could increase response times to some calls.
“That’s something we pay close attention to,” Smith said. “If times get to be too slow, then we’ll call in additional officers from home.”
Smith says while there is no specific threat to police or firefighters in Green Bay, he’s not blind to what’s going on.
“We’re monitoring Facebook and all the public websites, we’ve seen some anti-police rhetoric aimed in our direction, we’re keeping an eye on that,” said Smith. “But nothing that’s too terrible and certainly nothing against our fire department.”
A former Green Bay police officer and current Alderman Bill Galvin told WTAQ on Sunday that these steps could happen as a response to incidents in Louisiana and Texas.
