Editor,

The mayor, Tim Callison, and mayor pro-tem, Dominique Emerson, would like to clarify comments over the last couple of weeks about policing policies and practices in the City of Langley.

The council received much public testimony from people in far reaching places such as Alaska, Oak Harbor and Freeland, that Langley should dismantle its police or defund them. As is the job of the mayor and city council, we listened to all the input. We also met privately with a coalition of Langley citizens who strongly supported the current Langley police force.

We appreciate all of this input.

Ultimately, the council and mayor remain convinced that our police force has been adequately budgeted and funded at four officers for the last few years. The council has applauded and recognized the police department for its many heroic efforts on numerous occasions. Many of those actions applauded have been when they are acting as first-responders and saving lives rather than fighting crime.

The police force has the full support of the council and mayor.

While we are blessed to live in a city that has little to no serious crime, the existence of an adequate police force for patrolling the city ensures this result and allows us to be prepared to respond to all types of emergencies well.

In another time, the citizens of Langley may choose to re-envision our police force as a community security force with mental health training in a stronger cooperation with Island County, which has the legislative mandate to supply Social Services, but that time is not in the foreseeable future.

We have our hands full right now building back our businesses, ensuring our citizens safety and garnering funds to support our city.

The coming year will be a big challenge as the core operations of the city are working on a shoestring.

Tim Callison, mayor

Dominique Emerson, mayor pro-tem

City of Langley