As he stressed the importance of funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts as a way to stop the gang, he took a moment to criticize police officers who he thinks treat suspects too gingerly.
“When you guys put somebody in the auto and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over?”
Russian Federation will likely retaliate in ways that go beyond the expulsion of USA diplomats and the seizure of American diplomatic recreation areas that took place Friday, said George Beebe, a former director of Russian Federation analysis at the Central Intelligence Agency, and others.
Trump made the remarks Friday while speaking to law enforcement officers on Long Island.
President Trump was in NY to discuss his campaign to crack down on gangs like MS-13.
He said he was more focused on MS-13 because it is “particularly violent”, adding that MS-13’s members don’t like to shoot their victims because death comes too fast.
‘If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you?’ he said.
During a speech he gave at Suffolk County Community College in NY, on Friday, the President made comments implying that he was in support of unnecessary police force. “As a department, we do not and will not tolerate ‘rough [ing]’ up prisoners”.
Across the country, police department leaders said the president’s words didn’t reflect their views.
The approval of a little extra violence drew applause from the officers gathered at the speech, but the Suffolk County Police Department as an organization (which recently had a police chief imprisoned for beating a suspect) disavowed the remarks.
GPD rejects these remarks and continues to serve with respect.
But it didn’t stop in NY.
“The SCPD has strict rules & procedures relating to the handling of prisoners”, wrote the Suffolk County PD on Twitter.
“For a president of the United States to encourage the police with a wink and a nod to be violent to citizens. shows that the president is not in any way committed to justice for all people”, said Bill Murphy, Freddie Gray’s attorney.
The @POTUS made remarks today that endorsed and condoned police brutality.
Maya Wiley, the chairwoman of the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, condemned Mr. Trump’s speech, saying in a statement that it was “shameful, unsafe and damages the progress our city has made toward improving police-community relations”. “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you”.
“Needlessly equipping officers in a manner more suited to a battlefield than Main Street automatically places them in a confrontational stance with the people they are sworn to protect”, said Zeke Johnson, senior director of programs at Amnesty International USA.
Though, to be fair, the suspect in Trump’s hypothetical scenario HAD just killed someone.