After hearing about the events in Dallas last week, Pearl River County resident have been showing their support for local law enforcement.
“The businesses and the communities have been great to us since then. Every time we come in someone from the community or a local business has brought food or sweets,” said Picayune Police Department Assistant Chief Jeremy Magri.
Local businesses like Paul’s Pastry Shop, Herring Ford and Walmart have donated items to the department.
“There is a continuous negative feeling by some as to how the police do their job and we wanted to show them we appreciate them,” said Sherri Thigpen, the owner of Paul’s Pastry in Picayune.
Over the past few days, the Picayune Police Department has had several children thank officers for the work they do to protect the community, said Magri.
“When we get stuff from our community it lets officers know they are still supported by the community,” said Magri.
Cuevas’s Fish House employees prayed with Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department, Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers and Picayune Police Department officers Friday night.
“The owner led the restaurant in prayer over the men and women. It was an honor to be a part of. The public was very respect during prayer and after. We were very humble of our community. We were happy to be eating with local heroes and blessed to be able to pray to our God with our community,” said Scott and Katie Johnson in a social media message to the Item.
Unity Baptist Church hosted a prayer circle on Tuesday to express their support for local law enforcement as well as to pray for the officers’ continued safety.
The prayer was led by Blaine Cochran, the youth minister at Unity Baptist Church, who encouraged younger members of the church to meet some of their local law enforcement officers.
“There’s no doubt about the situation in our county and the situation these officers are facing, they need as much prayer and support as they can get,” said Benny Gisclair, a member of the church.
Pearl River County Sheriff David Allison attended the prayer circle and said other local churches have approached him about hosting prayer sessions in the coming days.
“Through this, they know they have a lot of prayers going up, and the morale of the department is staying high because of the support of this community,” said Allison. “I’m proud of that and it could very easily be the other way but we have a community here that comes together and supports us and makes our job easier.”
“During these hard times police officers don’t feel appreciated because of what you see in the media,” said Magri. “We’ve been made to look like the bad guys when we’re the good guys.”