TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) -- You may have seen extra people around with the Terre Haute police department.
No, it's not more officers. It's the crew with the TV show live PD, and it's causing some mixed emotions in the city.
Karen Raubuck is a strong supporter of law enforcement.
NAACP Branch President, Sylvester Edwards said city leaders were advised of their concerns in a letter. They said the letter stated the following points.
- Video-recording while being stopped, interrogated and/or arrested by police conveys the appearance of guilt prematurely, before individuals have had the opportunity to defend themselves in court and are, therefore, still presumed innocent.
- These public displays can have a major negative impact on their jobs and job prospects as well as their present and future relations with relatives, friends, and neighbors.
- Such activity antagonizes our citizens, making the public less respectful of law enforcement, and potentially encourages law enforcers to focus energy on the entertainment value of what they are doing, which is energy diverted away from effectively carrying out the demanding responsibilities of good police work.
"My gosh, they are the line between community and chaos," she said.
And she strongly supports Live PD.
"I think it's very good for our community. It is getting our residents to see inside of what our police officers deal with on a daily basis," Raubuck said.
She isn't the only one. A lot of people in the community support the show.
LINK | NAACP CALLS ON CITY OF TERRE HAUTE TO CANCEL LIVE PD CONTRACT
But some are worried it's giving the city a bad reputation.
"The only thing you've ever heard of from Terre Haute is Live PD and a bunch of red necks and hillbillies. I don't want that to be a part of my community," Angel Gayler, the owner of Sweeper World said.
"I. as a parent watching this show would be relieved to know that we have such a well trained polite very very professional police officers," Raubuck said.
LINK | HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE THPD DEAL WITH LIVE PD?
We've told you the NAACP did take a stand against the show. They asked the mayor and chief of police to reconsider the contract. The mayor says right now he doesn't see an issue.
"People are free to give their opinions about that, we will weigh that with everything else we're doing," Mayor Duke Bennett said. "If I see that this is not a good thing for our community, our police department, our citizens then we'll not do it, but so far I've not seen that."
This will continue to be a conversation in the community and between local leaders.
