GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Green Bay police are preparing for anything on the second night of a citywide curfew.
“Our message has always been to be peaceful,” said Commander Kevin Warych with Green Bay Police. “You can do this, we will help, we will facilitate, but we will not tolerate. There is no tolerance for destruction or violence. We need to make that very clear.”
Some violence erupted downtown Sunday night. Warych said protests stayed peaceful on Monday.
“The Police Department is here to ensure the safety of all people,” said Warych. “To make sure they have the ability to assemble, the ability to free speech and really have that support function for this protest.”
The police departments says it takes pride in its strong connection with the community.
“The Green Bay community, overall, is very supportive,” said Warych. “We have a strong following for the police department and there’s a lot of supporters calling us, I can’t keep up with the number of phone calls and voicemails I’m getting of people just really wanting to help.”
The Wisconsin National Guard is in the city of Green Bay last month to help with COVID-19 testing. They’re back in June, but this time providing assistance to police officers.
“They have been nothing short of exceptional,” said Warych. “They will be able to provide duties that we would normally have officers staffed, so we could put more officers in the community. Where officers were more at a designated location, now we can have guard members there versus having officers there and putting more officers on the streets.”
Warych says there is no timetable in place for how long the National Guard will be assisting police officers.
The curfew continues Tuesday night, ending on Wednesday at 6 a.m.
