By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton police Chief Nicholas K. Sutter stayed up through the night watching the news of the shooting rampage in Dallas on Thursday, connected by his shared profession with the officers gunned down in what’s been described as sniper-style attack.
“I’m in mourning,” Chief Sutter would say Friday by phone reflecting on a shooting that left five police officers dead and seven others wounded.
He and other law enforcement officers around Mercer County went to work Friday with the events in Dallas in their thoughts. In the words of one West Windsor police officer, police continue to do their jobs, always remaining vigilant — and always looking over their shoulders.
“It’s scary for us,” said Lt. Robert Garofalo said Friday morning.
On Friday, Chief Sutter shared a message with members of his police force in which he told them to remain “vigilant” and “steadfast” and that the community and the department support them. Yet at the same time, he said this is the toughest environment for police to work in that he has seen during his law enforcement career.
The carnage in Dallas came at a Black Lives Matter protest in the city, in response to police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.
“All of us are affected by the shootings last night of police officers,” Paul L. Ominsky, executive director of the Princeton University Department of Public Safety, wrote to members of his department on Friday. “We stand with those officers who have fallen protecting the right of citizens to protest safely.”
