Guilford Cops Waiving All Costs at March Against Guns on Green

GUILFORD, CT - A Guilford resident who is organizing a march on the Guilford Green March 24th, which is planned to coincide with the "Take Action to End Gun Violence March" that are planned across the nation that day, is sharing the good news that police will be providing security for the event at no cost to the event organizers.

The march will be a part of the Take Action to End Gun Violence March taking place that day across the nation.

“Our goal is to organize a local March for Gun Control Legislation that will allow area citizens to participate locally and have their voices heard,” said organizer Frank Blackwell.

Blackwell said he has been worried about some of the costs related to the march, which is slated for the Green from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. He said the biggest potential cost was that of extra police coverage.

But after meeting with Guilford police an agreement was worked out that the police would provide coverage - at no cost to the organizers.

Police Chief Jeff Hutchinson said: “The Guilford Police Department has a responsibility to ensure public safety when citizens choose to exercise their constitutional rights. As we are aware of a scheduled event by the March for Our Lives group on March 24, 2018, we found it necessary to evaluate the need for police coverage.

“We have worked with the event organizers in an effort to keep them fully informed regarding laws and ordinances requiring consideration. We determined that coverage was necessary and will therefore deploy staffing to meet the anticipated public safety needs this event requires. This is not unique to this event as the extent of our involvement is simply an exercise of our public safety mandate,” Hutchinson said.