President Trump’s endorsement of police brutality

At a time where police brutality is an all too common occurrence in America, president Trump’s recent speech condoning “roughing up” suspects is extremely daunting and has even struck a chord with police officers themselves.

President Donald Trump recently made a speech openly endorsing police brutality. Basically, Trump proclaimed that he was fine with a little bit of police brutality from time to time. In a speech to a group of police officials in Brentwood, New York, he urged officers to not be too gentle while handling suspects. Although police brutality is an unfortunate common reality in America, police leaders throughout the country have swiftly distanced themselves and have even condemned the president’s statements.

In a speech to a group of police officers in New York, President Trump asserted to the crowd, “Like when you put somebody in the car and you are protecting their head, you know? The way you put your 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, O.K.,’ “ The president also added, “When you see these towns and you see these thugs being thrown into the paddy wagon—you just see them thrown in, rough—I said please don’t be too nice”. The speech prompted repellent laughter and cheers amongst the officers. Also throughout the speech, Trump claimed that the Obama administration made no attempt to support police. He also averred that for years laws have been made to protect the criminal adding, “Totally protect the criminal, not the officers. You do something wrong, you’re in more jeopardy than they are. These laws are stacked against you. We’re changing those laws.” While the president’s largely fictitious, insensitive, and seemingly violent remarks are a shock to no one, it is telling how fast police chiefs have come out to condemn his statements.

The swift public denunciations against President Trump’s statements have come as departments are under intense pressure to expunge brutality and excessive force from their image. Obviously, police officials are trying to clean up their image and reaffirm the trust between them and the people they police. Plainly, police brutality is nothing new and has thwarted the trust between Americans and the police for far too long. “It’s the wrong message,” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, told Washington Radio Station WTOP. He added, “The last thing we need is a green light from the President of the United Sates for offices to use unnecessary force.”

Across the country police department leaders also let their views be known. The Suffolk Police Department proclaimed in an email, “The Sufolk 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.” They also added, “As a department, we do not and will not tolerate ‘rough[ing]’ up prisoners.” Darrell Stephens, a former police chief who is now the Executive Director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, told the Washington Post that the president’s words were a step back for police departments. “Over the past two or three years, police departments have worked very, very hard to restore the loss of confidence and trust that people, particularly in the African-American community, have in the police, based on what happened in Ferguson and the other high profile shootings,” Stephens said. “Maybe not just what the president said, but the reaction of the police officers standing behind him, I think that complicates that.

This year alone, 574 individuals have been shot dead by police according to The Washington Post’s Fatal Force Database. Last year, police shot and killed 963 people. With police brutality being an unfortunate customary occurrence in America, it is no wonder why so many police leaders have taken to the offensive when reacting to the president’s statements. The president has essentially given the green light to police officers to use excessive force against the American people, particularly African Americans who are the most likely to get roughed up. Trump has essentially given police officers a wink and a nudge to not take certain lives too, too seriously.