Police chiefs across the nation denounced Trump’s endorsement of rough treatment of suspects.
“During a speech to law enforcement on July 28, President Trump said “please don’t be too nice” to suspects who are arrested.
“Police leaders across the country moved quickly to distance themselves from — or to outright condemn — President Trump’s statements about “roughing up” people who’ve been arrested.
”The swift public denunciations came as departments are under intense pressure to stamp out brutality and excessive force that can erode the relationship between officers and the people they police — and cost police chiefs their jobs.
“Some police leaders worried that three sentences uttered by the president during a Long Island, N.Y., speech could upend nearly three decades of fence-mending since the 1991 Los Angeles Police Department beating of Rodney King ushered in an era of distrust of police.
“It’s the wrong message,” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, told Washington radio station WTOP while speaking of the trust-building work that departments have undertaken since King’s beating. “The last thing we need is a green light from the president of the United States for officers to use unnecessary force.”
”Trump made the comments at a gathering of law enforcement officers at Suffolk County Community College in New York. “
“When you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over?” Trump said, miming the physical motion of an officer shielding a suspect’s head to keep it from bumping against the squad car.
“Like, don’t hit their head, and they just killed somebody — don’t hit their head,” Trump continued. “I said, you can take the hand away, okay?”
“Trump’s remarks came after he spoke about local towns ravaged by gang violence.
“Across the country, police department leaders said the president’s words didn’t reflect their views.”
“The Suffolk County Police Department has strict rules and procedures relating to the handling of prisoners, and violations of those rules and procedures are treated extremely seriously,” the department said in an emailed statement.
“As a department, we do not and will not tolerate ‘rough[ing]’ up prisoners.”
“Trump’s comments also drew a rebuke from the International Association of Chiefs of Police. In a statement Friday, the group did not specifically mention Trump by name but appeared to respond to his speech by stressing the importance of treating all people, including suspects, with respect.
“ Statements from other police leaders followed….
“Police departments are under increased scrutiny for violent, often fatal interactions with suspects. So far this year, 574 people have been shot and killed by police, according to The Washington Post’s Fatal Force database.
“Last year, police shot and killed 963 people. This year’s killings included the Minneapolis Police shooting of Justine Damond, an Australian woman who called 911 to report a possible rape in the alley near her home and ended up shot dead by the responding officers.”
If you are able to open the link, you will see teeets by numerous police chiefs disassociating themselves from Trump’s views.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What was disheartening was the applause and cheers from the police officers in the audience.
I think it was Chris Hayes who tweeted out something to the effect that Trump manages to bring out the worst in people.
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But, in an ironic way, also the best. How else could we have gotten such a rousing rejection of brutality out of police chiefs across America? The more obnoxious and odious Trump gets, the more everyone else has to go on record as either with him or against him. This is a good thing.
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Agree, Dienne. I felt the same way about his speech at the BS jamboree, contrary to those who blamed the BSA for inviting him. This way we get to compare 45’s statesmanship to that of the presidents who preceded him via 80 yrs of annual POTUS talks delivered to the jamboree.
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And the Republicans who are in Congress remain silent, supporting this man who is unworthy of the position of President and basically hostile to the rule of law.
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Dump is the worst, ever. I think he’s more than a treasonous liar. He’s totally incompetent. He actually hates himself, thus all the bullying and theatrics meant to deflect. The Dump has a lot to hide.
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My comment this a.m. at this WaPo article: “It is dispiriting to have such a throwback old fart in the WH.” He talks like my racist old grandpa did over 50 yrs ago. All that man did was bother & humiliate one family, though.
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Bravo to the police chiefs for standing up to this thug. Trump’s always playing to the lowest common denominator reptilian inner self because that’s who he is. All throughout the campaign he made outrageous statement after outrageous statement that would have ended the career of most politicians. And yet he won. His vulgar tweeting, insensitive, cruel and sadistic comments continue as president. The actions of Trump and the GOP are cruel and sadistic, e.g., sabotaging the ACA so it cannot function properly, eroding the effectiveness of the social programs, etc. How is there anyone left supporting this dangerous man and his enabling party?
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I’d feel better about these groups standing up to Trump if many of these groups hadn’t supported Trump to begin with.
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Unnecessary force is different than NECESSARY force. In our “PC” climate, fewer and fewer are understanding that, and expect police to have to act like social workers (or is it “community organizers”?).
In the vast majority of cases of arrests, it’s the perp’s actions/attitude that determine which kind needs to be exercised.
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Patrick,
In all cases, the police must follow the law.
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PC gets a bad rap. In many cases, ignoring PC-ness means doing something that is actually wrong or has immoral implications.
Remember, we are all innocent until proven guilty, and there are cases of the innocent being arrested and even killed much, much too often, if not every day. We must value not only life but also comfort, security and dignity.
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Patrick is setting up a straw man false narrative with his off hand references to PC, social workers and community organizers. These are trigger words or terms that set off the right wing base. He’s using terms that are slung around all the time on rightwing/hate wing radio. This is why right wing radio is such a cancer on our society. It plays to the most crude, most base and most callow instincts of the crudest, basest and callowest of our citizenry. The only PC that I see to be dominate in our country is right wing PC, the PC of Hannity, Limbaugh, Mark Levine, Mike Savage and Bill Cunningham, etc., ad nauseam. These people poison the national dialogue with their lies, propaganda, distortions, smears and over the top extremist rhetoric.
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Exactly, and add to that the fact that the whole PC idea is itself a right wing fabrication, a strawman as you said.
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Thank goodness there are still some level headed people in charge in this country who will prevail.
If Trump thinks Americans should be treated like they are guilty unless they are proven innocent, either he doesn’t know how Mussolini’s people treated him in the end, or he made arrangements with Putin to gain asylum in Russia when the fat lady sings. The police had better be keeping a very close watch over Trump’s personal airplane…
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Trump is a walking talking constitutional crisis. He is fundamentally abusive, whether due to upbringing, narcissism, sociopathy, or whatever. And he gravitates toward others who abuse. He is ill.
We need to remove him by any legal means before there is a global disaster. He is our national disaster, and it already affects the globe.
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Any society such as ours that has glorified the death and destruction machine that is the US military in every aspect of everyday should expect its police to brutalize its citizens. Peas in a pod, peas and carrots, peanut butter and jelly, are what the death and destruction machine that is the US military and the civilian police forces are.
To not see this connection is to be blind to reality.
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This demonstrates the cliché about the blind leading the blind. You, along with Joe above, make great points.
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These comments are refreshing and perhaps Trump will get the message.
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Besides his striking illness of the psyche, he’s totally incompetent, and that won’t magically change as some supporters magically thought.
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Has there been any response yet from the police union who endorsed Trump? That would be significant. As would be their continued silence. Too bad they don’t understand that the privatization crosshairs are on them in a way not dissimilar to the one on teachers.
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“Too bad they don’t understand that the privatization crosshairs are on them in a way not dissimilar to the one on teachers.”
Yes, and the military, too. Big time. Eric Prince (brother of Betsy DeVos) and his private mercenaries are poised to make another killing (pun intended) in the next war.
When I recall how perceptions of duffus George W generally improved after 9/11, and Cheney and his pals capitalized from invading Iraq, due to the disaster capitalism principle adhered to by politicians and businessmen (“don’t let a good disaster go to waste,”) I truly fear that our PsychoPrez and his SociopathSvengali leader Bannon are trying to set the stage for another war…
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