Even Trump's DEA Chief Thinks What He Said About Police Brutality Went Too Far
Last Friday, President Donald Trump gave a speech to officers from New York's Suffolk County Police Department in which he seemed to endorse police brutality. "Please don't be too nice," Trump said, encouraging officers not to protect suspects' heads when putting them in police cars.
The police officers in the audience laughed and cheered, but law enforcement officers outside the auditorium were not amused. A number of police chiefs and representatives spoke out against Trump's comments, starting with the Suffolk County Police Department, which issued a statement saying, "As a department, we do not and will not tolerate 'rough(ing)' up prisoners." Other high-profile police officers followed suit.
In New York, Police Commissioner James O'Neill said in a statement that to "suggest that police officers apply any standard in the use of force other than what is reasonable and necessary is irresponsible, unprofessional and sends the wrong message to law enforcement as well as the public."
And Philadelphia's former police commissioner Charles Ramsey condemned Trump's comments on CNN's "New Day" Monday."I was very concerned when I first heard those remarks because I believe it reinforces a very negative stereotype of police that we've been trying to overcome. That is, that police use excessive force on a regular basis, we violate people's constitutional rights," Ramsey said.
[CNN]
The International Association of Police Chiefs even issued a statement contradicting Trump's speech.
Law enforcement officers are trained to treat all individuals, whether they are a complainant, suspect, or defendant, with dignity and respect. This is the bedrock principle behind the concepts of procedural justice and police legitimacy.
Now, it's come out that the top drug enforcement official in Trump's own Justice Department also rebuked Trump's remarks in a staff memo. Chuck Rosenberg, the acting chief of the Drug Enforcement Agency, issued the memo on Saturday.
"The president, in remarks delivered yesterday in New York, condoned police misconduct regarding the treatment of individuals placed under arrest by law enforcement," begins the memo, titled "Who We Are" and marked "Global Distribution." …
"I write to offer a strong reaffirmation of the operating principles to which we, as law enforcement professionals, adhere," the memo says. "I write because we have an obligation to speak out when something is wrong. That's what law enforcement officers do. That's what you do. We fix stuff. At least, we try."
It's enough to make you feel warm and fuzzy about the future of law enforcement in America! Just don't check out any online police forums, where plenty of officers are saying that they think what Trump said was just fine.