Fridays are the days when Blair Anderson typically leaves his official dress uniform on the hanger and dips into his expansive wardrobe for a more casual look.
The St. Cloud police chief had an atypical Friday this week.
"Normally on Fridays, I don't wear a uniform," Anderson said. "I wore mine today on purpose. Because 'Damn them.' I'm not scared of them. We're not scared of them. We're here to hold the line and serve and protect. And that's what we're going to do."
His defiance came moments after he signed a letter to be sent to everyone who works at the police department, a letter he said he felt compelled to write after 12 police officers were shot Thursday night in Dallas, five of them fatally.
Your chief, your administration, the city all support you and what you are doing, the letter read. Don't stop what you are doing, be proud, be brave, be diligent, he wrote.
He hadn't been contacted directly by any of his officers in his department, he said, but he didn't have to in order to know what they are feeling in the wake of an attack on those Dallas officers.
"Having been where they are currently, they don't have to reach out to me for me to know how they feel," Anderson said. "I know they're frustrated. I know they're angry. I know they're on heightened alert. All of those things are justified."
There were conversations between top management and rank-and-file officers and office staff Friday. The message was clear: You do a great job, and keep doing it the way you've been doing it.
"Our administration supports our cops 100 percent," said Commander Brett Mushatt. "That's what they need to know, and that's what the public needs to know."
Waite Park Police Chief Dave Bentrud sent a similar message to his officers Friday, a day in which the emotions in his department were best characterized as "heartbreak."
"It's just a very sad day," Bentrud said. "It's kind of put a dark cloud over what we've been trying to do, what we're doing. It's kind of discouraging."
His officers have made progress in building community trust, he said. It's not perfect, and there's more work to do. But the frustration his officers are feeling is that incidents that happen elsewhere seem to paint the entire profession with the same broad brush. It fans flames and makes officers' jobs more difficult.
But the vast majority of the community supports what his officers do, he said.
"We've got to remember that and can't forget that," Bentrud said. "Maybe the best way to honor the memories of those officers who lost their lives in Dallas is to stick to the high road, stay professional and do the job the right way, the way they've been doing it."
The public has been sending more positive messages than usual to Anderson in recent days, he said. His phone has been ringing steadily, he said, with messages conveying thoughts, prayers and appreciation.
They want him and his officers to keep up the good work in a job that often is thankless.
"It's at times like this that we depend on that, because that ultimately gives us the backing to know that they support what we do every day and the hardships that we see every day and the things that we are called to do every day," said Assistant Chief Jeff Oxton.
"We're going to continue to do what we swore to do the same way we've been doing it," Anderson said. "I think our police department already embodies what we keep saying we should do, what we already are doing. That's a matter of course for us.
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