A Nevada sheriff told a local library system not to bother calling 911 after it expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
That message came from Douglas County Sheriff Dan Coverley this week, a day before the county’s public library system was set to discuss a proposed diversity statement that mentions they “support #BlackLivesMatter.”
“Due to your support of Black Lives Matter and the obvious lack of support or trust with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, please do not feel the need to call 911 for help,” the sheriff wrote in a public letter to the library system Monday. “I wish you good luck with disturbances and lewd behavior, since those are just some of the recent calls my office has assisted you with in the past.”
The sheriff and library system director said they discussed the issue the next day and agreed it had been an “unfortunate circumstance of misunderstanding.”
The meeting discussing the statement was meant to happen Tuesday but has now been rescheduled for an unspecified date.
The library’s proposed diversity statement said in part that it “denounces all acts of violence, racism, and disregard for human rights. We support “BlackLivesMatter. We resolutely assert and believe that all forms of racism, hatred, inequality, and injustice don’t belong in our society.”
It added that the system had signed the Urban Libraries Council’s Statement on Race and Social Equity – signed by 180 public libraries across the United States and Canada, committing to making their communities “more inclusive and just.”
Coverley’s letter called the death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis police custody in May, “tragic and preventable,” but then said “data simply does not support claims that law enforcement is systemically racist or structurally biased.” That language, as well as the letter’s first four paragraphs, is taken word for word from a letter sent to leaders in Congress from multiple state attorney generals and sheriffs associations in June, asking for assistance in combating “anti-police rhetoric.”
But data has shown that Black Americans are at a greater risk of being killed by police, despite being less likely to pose an objective threat to law enforcement, according to research by Northeastern University Professor Matt Miller.
Other research, from George Mason University and the University of Georgia, found in 2018 that when it comes to misdemeanors, “there is profound racial disparity in the misdemeanor arrest rate for most – but not all – offense types.”
Tuesday, the day after Coverley’s public letter, he and Douglas County Library Director Amy Dodson released a joint statement addressing the issue.
The two had a “very candid conversation,” Dodson said in the statement.
“We agreed that we both support the people of Douglas County and this may have been an unfortunate circumstance of misunderstanding,” Dodson said. “The library respects and supports the work of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and appreciates everything they do to keep our community safe.”
“This has been a difficult time to be a law enforcement professional and can be disheartening when we perceive that our office may be under attack,” Coverley said in the statement. “My response was rooted in my belief that these issues need to be openly discussed in a way that values diversity and law enforcement.”