Page 10 The Skanner August 16, 2017
News
Trump ‘Jokes’ about Police Brutality, but Cops Aren’t Laughing
Law enforcement agencies respond after remarks in Long Island speech
By Lauren Victoria
Burke
NNPA Columnist
D
uring a speech
at Suff olk Coun-
ty
Community
College on Long
Island, N.Y., President
Donald Trump seemed
to openly endorse police
brutality.
Mother Jones report-
ed that it, “Turns out
the audience was com-
prised of offi cers in a po-
lice department that has
been scrutinized for ra-
cial profi ling, and whose
former chief was recent-
ly sentenced to prison
for beating a man.”
According to Mother
Jones, the speech was
supposed to address
federal eff orts to com-
bat MS-13, “the violent
street gang with ties to
Central America.”
Trump seemed to dis-
courage police offi cers
from safely handling
suspects in their care.
“When you see these
thugs being thrown
into the back of a pad-
dy wagon. You just see
them thrown in, rough. I
said, ‘Please, don’t be too
nice,’” Trump told the
crowd to a smattering
of applause. “Like when
you guys put somebody
in the car and you’re
protecting their head…
like don’t hit their head
and they’ve just killed
somebody. I said, ‘You
can take the hand away,
okay?’”
Trump was referring
to the police practice of
assisting
handcuff ed
suspects into the back of
police vehicle and pro-
tecting their heads from
hitting the door frame
on the way in.
Some of the offi cers in
the audience chuckled
at Trump’s remarks, but
negative backlash from
the law enforcement
community
quickly
spread across Twitter.
“As a department, we
do not and will not tol-
erate roughing up of
prisoners,” tweeted the
Suff olk County Police
Department. “The SCPD
has strict rules and pro-
cedures relating to the
handling of prisoners.
Violations of those rules
are treated extremely se-
riously.”
The two tweets that re-
ferred to the president’s
remarks in Long Island
gained close to 100,000
likes.
In reaction to Trump’s
rhetoric, New York
Police
Commissioner
James O’Neill said that
to “suggest that police
offi cers apply any stan-
dard in the use of force
other than what is rea-
sonable and necessary
is irresponsible, unpro-
fessional and sends the
wrong message to law
enforcement as well as
the public.”
In a tweet that would
receive over 48,000
Community
Business Directory
BEAUTY SALON &
BARBERSHOPS
We’re Here and We’re
Not Going Anywhere
Deans Beauty Salon
& Barbershop
OREGON’S OLDEST
BLACK BEAUTY SALON
& BARBERSHOP
Serving our community since 1954
215 & 213 NE Hancock
Portland, OR 97212
503.282.3379 Salon
503.282.3388 Barbershop
STYLISTS:
Kim • Sylvia • Kaycee • Pearl
President Trump seemed to endorse police brutality in a speech on Long Island, N.Y. This photo was taken
during WTO protests in Seattle, November 30, 1999. Pepper spray is applied to the crowd. (Wikimedia
Commons)
retweets and 148,000
likes, the Gainsville, Fla.,
police department put
out a message that read:
“The @POTUS made
remarks today that en-
dorsed and condoned
police brutality. GPD re-
jects these remarks and
continues to serve with
respect.”
In an emailed letter to
employees, acting Drug
Enforcement Adminis-
trator Chuck Rosenberg
wrote, “In writing to
you, I seek to advance
no political, partisan, or
personal agenda. Nor do
I believe that a Special
Agent or Task Force Of-
fi cer of the DEA would
mistreat a defendant.
I know that you would
not.”
Rosenberg’s
letter
continued: “I write to
off er a strong reaffi r-
mation of the operat-
ing principles to which
we, as law enforcement
professionals, adhere. I
write because we have
an obligation to speak
out when something is
wrong. That’s what law
enforcement offi cers do.
That’s what you do. We
fi x stuff . At least, we try.”
Rosenberg said that
law enforcement offi -
BARBERS:
Curtis • Pearl
INSURANCE
cers must earn and keep
the public trust.
“Ours is an honorable
profession and, so, we
will always act honor-
ably,” Rosenberg wrote.
A few days aft er
Trump’s speech, White
House
spokeswoman
Sarah Huckabee Sand-
ers said Trump was “jok-
ing” when he seemed to
encourage police bru-
tality at Suff olk County
Community College.
Mayor: Baltimore
Statues Came Down
‘Quietly, Quickly’
Crews removed four statues
under cover of night this week
By Juliet Linderman, Associated Press
BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore Mayor Catherine
Pugh has a few words of advice for leaders in other
cities who might want to get rid of Confederate mon-
uments: “Do it quietly and quickly.”
On Tuesday Pugh ordered four statues in Baltimore
removed under the cover of night. In the morning,
city residents awoke to empty marble plinths.
See STATUES on page 11
Hear about it fi rst.
Sign up for
Breaking News
and Events at
