An email from a Tampa deputy police chief expressing support for his department’s female officers met with fierce resistance from union leadership, which complained the message was “unnecessarily divisive.”

On Thursday, Deputy Chief Ruth Cate sent a mass email to female Officers of the Tampa Police Department spoke of a “difficult month” for women in the police force.

Cate referenced attacks from some right-wing media personalities and politicians who accused women in the Secret Service of not doing their jobs well enough in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump last month. Some said women in the Secret Service were not big enough to protect Trump with their bodies, while others shared a video that appeared to show a female agent struggling to holster her weapon.

“Regardless of the fact that this critical incident occurred in Butler, PA, our own agency is affected,” Cate wrote. She did not explain what she meant by that.

“We all need to support each other, our colleagues, regardless of our demographic, and most importantly, the community,” Cate wrote.

Cate said the command staff at the female officers “and their ability to do their jobs effectively and, in many cases, better than our male colleagues.”

Hours later, Brandon Barclay, president of the Tampa Police Benevolent Association, sent a letter to Police Chief Lee Bercaw said he had received complaints about Cate’s letter. He said both male and female officers had objected to the existence of an email thread that included only female officers. He called Cate’s statement about female officers in many cases They do their job better than their male colleagues, “shocking”.

He also objected to Cate’s call for officers to support one another.

“Honestly, I didn’t know we didn’t support each other,” Barclay wrote.

He said if a similar letter were sent only to male officers, calls for Bercaw’s resignation “would begin immediately”.

Barclay requested a meeting to discuss in person “the divisive nature of this email, based solely on gender.”

Barclay told the Tampa Bay Times that the union held a meeting with department heads on Tuesday afternoon. A Tampa Police Department spokesman said Wednesday: The City’s Human Resources Department will conduct an administrative review of the email.

Cate did not respond to multiple requests for comment in time for publication.

Cate has been with the Tampa Police Department since 1996 and is the head of operations. Barclay has been with the department since 2010 and is a police master.