What You Need To Know About David Clarke, The Polarizing Sheriff Who Says He's Joining The Trump Administration
According to US News, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke says he's accepted the appointment to the position of Assistant Secretary of the Department Of Homeland Security (update: DHS has tweeted that the appointment is not yet official). The sheriff is a prominent Trump surrogate and is known for his inflammatory statements. Here's what you need to know.
Clarke Will Reportedly Work As A Liaison With Local Police Departments
Clarke Rose To Prominence In 2014 When He Began To Serve As A Conservative Pundit On Ferguson For Fox News
Clarke's national profile rose a few years ago when he began making regular appearanceson Fox News in late 2014 to talk about policing after the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the police killing of Michael Brown. Since then, he's made a name for himself by providing a voice for those who want to believe there's nothing wrong with our criminal justice system and to ignore America's historic racial inequalities.
In the clip below, Clarke can be seen slamming Eric Holder's report on the Ferguson police department:
Clarke Says That Black Lives Matter Has Started A War On Police Officers
Clarke has repeatedly said that "cop-hater-in-chief" President Obama and Black Lives Matter started a war on police. In the video below he calls the group "black slime".
He's also compared the activist group to ISIS.
Numbers from the FBI show a decrease in crimes committed against law enforcement:
The number of officers killed as a result of criminal acts in 2015 decreased by 10 when compared with the 51 officers who were feloniously killed in 2014. The five- and 10-year comparisons show a decrease of 31 felonious deaths compared with the 2011 figure (72 officers) and a decrease of seven deaths compared with 2006 data (48 officers).
[FBI]
Clarke Doesn't Believe That Police Brutality Exists In America
In 2015, Clarke told Fox & Friends that "there is no police brutality in America…there is no racism in the hearts of police officers."
The Hive has a good roundup of studies that point to America's problem with police, violence and race:
Sometimes, studies and investigations reveal evidence of intentional bias; other studies point to broader societal and institutional factors that lead to implicit bias. Taken together, the research paints a picture of a nation where a citizen's race may well affect their experience with police—whether an encounter ends with a traffic stop, the use of police force, or a fatal shooting.
[The Hive]
Clarke Is A Longtime Supporter Of President Trump
When then-candidate Trump called the election "rigged" Clarke called for riots on twitter.
Clarke Called For The National Guard To Shut Down Anti-Trump Protests After The Election
In the wake of the election, Clarke suggested employing the National Guard to shutdown anti-Trump protests.
Clarke Believes In Armed Uprise Against Further Attempts At Gun Control
Despite his aversion to progressive protests, he's not opposed literally fighting back in the name of gun control. In 2014, he told a group at the NRA Leadership Forum:
…you have to be willing to resist any attempt by government to disarm law-abiding people by fighting with the ferociousness of a junkyard dog. For it says in the Declaration of Independence that it is our right, it is our duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards for our future security.
Clarke Has A Grim History As Sheriff
Multiple prisoners in Clarke's jail have died in disturbing circumstances. A mentally ill man was denied water for seven days before ultimately dying of dehydration.
Thomas had spent his final days begging for water, inmates later told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, because jail staff had shut off the flow to the pipes in his cell as punishment for bad behavior.
In July 2016, an infant died in the jail after a pregnant woman was forced to give birth on the floor and ignored by guards, according to a lawsuit:
Despite the pregnancy and a diagnosis of severe mental illness, she was placed in the maximum security unit on July 7th — transferred from the special needs unit, according to the lawsuit. The suit says she was not seen by any doctor from July 8th through the 14th. The lawsuit alleges that a doctor's appointment on July 13th was cancelled "because she was not a priority."….Swayzer alleges on July 14th, she went into labor, and she says when she tried to alert guards that her water broke, she was "laughed at."
[Fox 6]
In another lawsuit, pregnant women sued Clarke for shackling them while they were giving birth.
Melissa Hall was shackled before, during, and after childbirth at a local hospital in 2013. A "belly chain" was allegedly wrapped around her waist when she needed to use the restroom, and she had "her wrists attached to the waist and her legs attached to one another by leg-irons." Hall claims the jail deputies also denied medical providers' request to take the chains off her during childbirth, which made it difficult for those providers to give her an epidural.
Clarke served as Sheriff of Milwaukee County, which was rated the worst place for African Americans to live, for four terms.
