Did anyone hear a giant sigh of relief coming from downtown Selma Monday morning? Did anyone feel the load of stress coming off of one building in particular?

You should have. And that building was the Selma Police Department, who over the past few days has had to patrol a city that by all accounts welcomed an additional 10,000 people to town.

Not only did police officials have to coordinate traffic flow, block streets and provide protection assistance to some of our country’s most highly-elected leaders, but they still had to provide protection to the same areas of town they patrol each and every night.

Were there problems during the weekend? Yes. Were there arrests? Yes. But, the city of Selma went from a town of just over 20,000 on Wednesday to a city bordering on twice that size by Sunday. And, the last time we checked, they city did not hire any additional police officers just for the weekend.

With the help of state law enforcement and strong partnerships with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, Selma’s largest gathering, went off with very few problems.

For this we take this time to commend the officers, sergeants, lieutenants, detectives, captains and the rest of the police command structure for their long hours this weekend. We thank them for being professional, well trained and prepared for the significant increase in population.

There is no doubt the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee is Selma’s biggest moment of the year. Thanks to the men and women of local law enforcement, this year’s Jubilee was the true family-oriented event we all hoped it would be.