Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham denies problems with his officers‘ behavior during demonstrations at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s June 10 rally in Richmond.
Durham was responding to criticism by Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, saying that Richmond police unfairly corralled Trump protesters and covered up police identification badges with dark tape.
In his letter to the ACLU, Durham wrote: “I know of no officer who had their badge number covered, nor individuals with tape on their badges.”
Durham also denied ACLU claims that the police “bottlenecked” Trump protesters in any way. Durham also says his police had no guilt in not separating protesters versus supporters after the rally.
Richmond police, along with State Police, FBI, Secret Service and other law enforcement secured the rally, which resulted in five detainments and one arrest.