Spring Hill resident urges community to support police during Back the Badge rally

In front of the Metro Nashville Courthouse on Sunday, dozens of Tennesseans gathered for the second “Back the Badge” rally in support of law enforcement amidst continued calls to defund the police. 

Like the first Back the Badge rally, Sunday’s demonstration was organized by Shelbyville resident Chase Matheson. Unlike the first rally, Sunday’s demonstration saw guest speakers such as U.S. Senate candidates Jon Henry and Aaron Pettigrew, among others.

Also among those participating at the rally Sunday was one of Williamson County’s own: Christie Ice of Spring Hill, who while speaking with the Home Page, voiced what she considered to be the importance of communities supporting law enforcement amid continued protests.

“I just feel that it's very important that as a community, [we] come together to show appreciation to our police,” Ice said. 

“Right now, they are under a lot of pressure, a lot of danger, and I feel it's important for them to know we have their back, that we appreciate them and that we are going to stand behind them. We do not want our police defunded.”

In regards to calls to defund the police, which prominent activists in Williamson County have described as not eliminating law enforcement, but instead reallocating portions of police budgets into social services like education and social services, Ice said that taking any funds away from law enforcement was "not the correct way to go about it."

“I do not believe that we should take any funding from the police, I think if anything we need to give more to police,” Ice said. 

“I feel that when you start stripping money and resources away from them, then you're really leaving them in a bad spot. Do we need to have some changes? Yes, but I do not believe that defunding is the correct way to go about it.”

Matheson, the rally’s organizer, was among the featured speakers at the demonstration, and said over megaphone that while he sympathized with some calls for police reform, “villainizing the police” was not “the way we go about that.”

“I'll be the first to tell you that there are some police reforms that I would absolutely love, but the way we go about that reform isn't by villainizing the police... it is unfair for us to expect superhuman capabilities from humans,” Matheson said. 

“We are never ever, unfortunately, going to do away with all bad cops. Just like you're never going to do away with McDonald's getting your order wrong, or with the guy at the cash register not giving you correct change. Nobody is perfect, but our police officers in whole are more perfect than almost any other profession you will find.”

Matheson continued, drawing attention to the number of Nashville police officers killed in the line of duty over the past two centuries.

“The police have been around in Nashville for less than 200 years, and we've had 655 of them die in the line of duty - 340 of them were shot,” Matheson said. 

“Now I don't know any other profession out there - other than maybe a firefighter - where someone is expected to put their lives on the line like that every day. That thin blue line is a thin blue line - if that breaks, then the duty to protect yourself falls on each and every one of us. So it's our duty to stand behind the police. It's our duty to understand the sacrifices that they make, and it's our duty to thank them for it.”