Before he was sworn as Greensburg’s new police chief two weeks ago, Robert Stafford said he hoped the city would remain peaceful.
Westmoreland’s county seat has been the site of a few relatively small Black Lives Matters protests against police brutality, in contrast to large and violent protests in Pittsburgh, where windows of businesses were broken and police vehicles burned.
On Thursday at noon, Vice President Mike Pence will come to the Mid Town Plaza parking lot adjacent to City Hall on South Main Street for what is being billed as a “Cops for Trump” rally.
Stafford said he understands the event is meant to be a show of support for police officers.
“Police are being shot, police are being killed,” Stafford noted. A security detail from the vice president’s office was walking around the Mid Town Plaza and City Hall on Monday morning.
Because of the rally, drivers who typically park their vehicles in Mid Town Plaza lot, where Dollar General and Scott Electric Lighting Gallery are located, will not be permitted to park there Thursday morning, said Russ Remaley, owner of A to Z Promotions in the Mid Town Plaza.
City officials sought Monday to correct a mistake in the initial announcement by the Trump campaign, which said the rally would be held at City Hall. The event will not be on city property nor are the Greensburg police playing a role in the event, said Kelsye Milliron, city administrator. They just learned Friday that Pence would speak in the city Thursday, Milliron said.
Even though Pence will not be speaking at the entrance to the police station, public employees were busy Monday morning washing the front steps to the police department and surrounding pavement.
Stafford said he did not know why the campaign selected Greensburg as the site for the rally. Melissa Reed, a Trump campaign spokesman for Pennsylvania, did not know, either.
Stephanie Yassa, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, said Monday she could not comment on why the Trump campaign selected the site for the rally.
The vice president has been doing bus tours of Pennsylvania and wanted to visit Western Pennsylvania, said Marc Bretz, an advance team representative for the Trump campaign, who was in Greensburg on Monday. Bretz also said he could not say why the city was chosen as the site for the campaign event.
After the rally in Greensburg, Pence is scheduled to visit Guy Chemical Plant in Somerset at 2:30 p.m. for a discussion of policies needed to drive the economic recovery after covid-19, said Kelly Sadler, a spokesperson for America First Policies, the nonprofit that supports Trump policies on tax reform, trade, regulations and workforce development.
