On Sunday evening, the Somerville Police Department sent officers to Boston to assist with public safety efforts not just because we have a long-standing mutual aid agreement with Boston, and not just because we are duty bound to protect all free speech, but because, as a department, we wanted to ensure that peaceful voices would have a safe place to speak up about what we also feel as trained officers and simply as people: the tragic death of George Floyd was avoidable, unwarranted, and, in our eyes, criminal. We stand with and are proud of the peaceful protesters for voicing their calls for change and for demanding that what happened to Mr. Floyd, never happens again.