KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Messages of support for the Williamsport police were drawn in the parking lot of city hall on Sunday.

From pizza offered to city police as a gesture of appreciation, to chants outside City Hall by organizers calling for the defunding of the police department, the city’s top officer says they are ready for any inevitability.

“We don’t expect pizza, but we appreciate it,” said Chief Damon R. Hagan, of a gesture made Sunday by families and children who wrote in chalk messages of appreciation for what the officers do to keep them safe.

Hagan, when asked Monday about the activity, said it reverberated throughout the police headquarters.

He also was asked about the potential for unrest in the days ahead, especially this year with a national presidential election, and if the police were up to the task of maintaining safety for all city residents.

He said no matter what the national narrative becomes the police are there to protect and serve everyone.

The city has been thrust into the national spotlight, which has required a large police response.

It happened more recently in July, when the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group linked with a larger gathering in 2017, which led to the death of a woman in Charlottesville, Virginia, marched in Brandon Park.

Hagan acknowledged how big city incidents can occur in Lycoming County’s largest city.

He said his greatest concern is if groups with differing viewpoints and ideologies who are protesting, get into each other’s space.

“Our greatest fear is there is always a potential for conflict from two different groups,” he said, adding, “that doesn’t mean they have to be violent.”

The best solution for a peaceful resolution, he said, is to allow police to do their work.

As for advice to protestors, no matter political persuasion or cause, they need to get familiar with city code, state and federal law, he said.

“A lot of protesters are younger,” he said. “Just because a group leader says something is legal, doesn’t make it so,” Hagan said.

Following the “rule of the mob” may not be in keeping with the law, he said.

No matter what happens in the nation, the department must be professional, he said.

Overall, he said, morale is higher than it has been in recent years, adding how that should reflect and translate to better partnerships on the city streets.

For residents concerned about their safety, the department, budgeted for 49 officers, is undergoing a professional accreditation process and officers are being selected for quarterly officer of the year awards recognizing their outstanding service, he said.

No matter what happens nationally, the city police will discharge their duty to protect and to serve, to make arrests when necessary and to be available for everyone who needs their assistance, he said.