Trump Says Cops Should Rough Up Suspects; Receives Backlash From Police Officials
from the a.k.a.,-THAT-Trump-speech...-up-until-the-next-Trump-speech... dept
Late last week, President Trump gave a chilling speech to law enforcement officers in Long Island. Trump has made it clear he holds law enforcement officers in higher regard than the people they serve. In one of his first directives, he flatly stated that disliking police officers is "wrong."
One of the fundamental rights of every American is to live in a safe community. A Trump Administration will empower our law enforcement officers to do their jobs and keep our streets free of crime and violence. The Trump Administration will be a law and order administration. President Trump will honor our men and women in uniform and will support their mission of protecting the public. The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong. The Trump Administration will end it.
His pick for Attorney General has backed this up, stating the DOJ will no longer be investigating civil rights violations by local police departments and announced a return to the good old days of harsh sentencing and unrestricted civil asset forfeiture.
The speech given by Trump shows a man completely enthralled by people in uniforms. It also shows his general disdain for anyone law enforcement officers might run across. First, Trump stated he was going to let law enforcement agencies have all the war gear they want.
You know, when you wanted to take over and you used military equipment — and they were saying you couldn’t do it — you know what I said? That was my first day: You can do it. (Laughter.) In fact, that stuff is disappearing so fast we have none left. (Laughter.) You guys know — you really knew how to get that. But that’s my honor. And I tell you what — it’s being put to good use.
This refers to the Defense Department's 1033 program, which is the reason local cops are riding around in mine-resistant vehicles and dressed like soldiers when kicking down the doors of hobby farmers. This is why they have enough flash bang grenades to set toddlers on fire and enough ammo to shoot at two people in a stopped car 137 times.
It gets worse from there. Trump actually encourages police brutality and rights violations.
Right now, we have less than 6,000 Enforcement and Removal Officers in ICE. This is not enough to protect a nation of more than 320 million people. It’s essential that Congress fund another 10,000 ICE officers — and we’re asking for that — so that we can eliminate MS-13 and root out the criminal cartels from our country.
Now, we’re getting them out anyway, but we’d like to get them out a lot faster. And when you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon — you just see them thrown in, rough — I said, please don’t be too nice. (Laughter.) Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? Like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody — don’t hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, okay? (Laughter and applause.)
Note that in all of these quotes there is laughter and applause from the attending officers. This is an important element of this speech, which I'll get to in a little bit.
But the essence of this passage is officers should treat arrestees roughly, possibly up to the point of severe injury. Not too long ago, an arrested suspect died in the back of a police van, apparently subjected to a "rough ride" by the drivers. This is the sort of thing Trump is directly encouraging.
Unbelievably, it gets worse.
And I have to tell you, you know, the laws are so horrendously stacked against us, because for years and years they’ve been made to protect the criminal. Totally made to protect the criminal, not the officers. If you do something wrong, you’re in more jeopardy than they are. These laws are stacked against you. We’re changing those laws.
These "laws" that are "stacked against" law enforcement are better known as Constitutional rights. The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments protect citizens from the overzealous members of their government. These are hardly adequate, thanks to the same judges Trump claims aren't processing prosecutions and expulsions fast enough. And, apparently, Trump wants to change them.
The sad truth is it's exactly the opposite of the way Trump portrays it. Qualified immunity shields officers from their actions in all but the most egregious cases. Even then, courts must find something almost directly on point in previous decisions to affirmatively declare actions taken by officers to be unconstitutional. And that's before you factor in other benefits officers have, like the "good faith" exception or generous union contracts that give them two or three days to consult reports, video, and lawyers before answering questions about people they've maimed or killed.
Somewhat refreshingly, multiple police officials stepped up to publicly state their opposition to the behavior Trump endorsed in this speech.
The president's remark was denounced by police officials and organizations, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Police Foundation and Steve Soboroff, one of the civilian commissioners who oversees the Los Angeles Police Department.
“What the president recommended would be out of policy in the Los Angeles Police Department,” Mr. Soboroff told The Los Angeles Times. “It’s not what policing is about today.”
Michael Harrison, chief of the New Orleans Police Department, said in a statement on Saturday that Mr. Trump’s comments “stand in stark contrast to our department’s commitment to constitutional policing and community engagement.”
Unsurprisingly, the nation's largest police union couldn't be bothered to rise to this level of discourse. Instead, the Fraternal Order of Police released a statement claiming the President's "off the cuff comments" were being taken "too literally" by the media and "professional police critics." [Dear FOP Prez Chuck Canterbury: I am more than happy to add an additional revenue stream. Please point me to the nearest person paying other people to criticize the police. Thx.] Only after that did the statement get around to (wrongly) claiming all cops were respectful of people and their rights.
But the fact is the FOP statement likely hews closer to the rank-and-file's feelings. We saw plenty of statements from law enforcement brass, but very few officers stepped up to denounce the President's words. Former police officer Greg Prickett is actually privy to the rank-and-file conversations at various cop-only websites, and the general opinion there is Trump's statements were perfectly fine. (via Simple Justice)
I was discussing this issue at RallyPoint, where some immediately defended the speech. One warrant officer who is also a California deputy sheriff made statements that it is worse now than ever for police officers, and that Trump’s statements are appropriate. This is typical of the new mindset of police officers. First, his statement is factually incorrect. The crime rate is at its lowest level in about 50 years, and there are far fewer officers being killed now than in the late-80s, early-90s.
But that’s the narrative that he hears, because he’s only interested in the sound of an echo chamber, like PoliceOne and the Force Science Institute. It’s a common problem that communities are now facing. The over-militarization of the police has created an us-them mentality, and the police are taking the position of Anakin Skywalker, that if you are not a blind supporter, then you are against him, and are therefore evil.
Too many cops are caught up in a mass delusion. For many, the current low levels of respect shown towards the law enforcement community is something wholly unearned. To them, it's nothing more than the dull roar of assholes and armchair quarterbacks. They simply refuse to acknowledge their own actions have played a part in the current state of affairs. But there's only so long officers can continue killing 1,000 people a year during a period of historically-low crime rates before the general public starts to wonder if the problem isn't a more violent breed of criminal, but rather a more violent breed of cop.
Having the country's leader play to these officers' unfounded fears and baser instincts is dangerous. Telling them the administration has their back while eliminating federal oversight will only encourage bad cops to be worse and tell the good cops -- the ones who report misconduct and abuse -- that no one above them cares.
Filed Under: donald trump, law enforcement, police, suspects
