Bad Apples

“We’re going to support you like you’ve never been supported before.”

We get it. Our Dear Leader was boosting the morale of law enforcement officers in a speech on Long Island. 

“For years and years, [laws have] been made to protect the criminal,” Trump said. “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.”

Yeah, ask the growing list of victims of poorly trained cops about who the laws and courts are stacked against.

But his message went much darker. He practically advocated police brutality when he ranted: “When you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, and I said, ‘Please don’t be too nice,’”.

“Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their 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, OK?’” he added.

Many officers grinned and enthusiastically applauded.

There’s your “few bad apples”, heartily embracing the “Law and Order President” casually endorsing the idea of brutalizing suspects in custody.

What happens when cops become the thugs?

Nothing good can come of it. Nothing resembling justice. 

Citizens are killed and injured. Families then sue the city that employs the thugs in uniform. Respect for police diminishes. Then someone decides to take further revenge against random officers that are the epitome of professionalism, and more cops die.

Is that really worth this stupid “Please don’t be too nice” tough guy talk?

Time will tell. It isn’t hard to picture the day when some thug cop capriciously kills or maims someone, and we see his grinning face and clapping hands in the video of that speech.

Trump is an ignorant, thuggish, stupid asshole. Cops who get a tingle up their leg at Trump’s tough talk are also stupid thuggish assholes. We don’t need them in uniform. But there they were, basking in the vile ignorance of our president. 

Instead of culling these authoritarian bullies from police departments, we doom ourselves to more unwarranted deaths by cops, and we doom more cops to acts of retaliation.

But since our nation is now under an authoritarian bully of a president, don’t hold much hope for more sanity, professionalism and good judgment from those “few bad apples”.

Trump the "Bad-Apple-in-Chief" just enabled and encouraged those bad apples in uniform into more violence and bloodshed.

That is what authoritarian bullies do. 

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This is how professionals in law enforcement responded to Trump's thuggish remarks:

Gainesville Police:

The @POTUS made remarks today that endorsed and condoned police brutality. GPD rejects these remarks and continues to serve with respect.

Suffolk County PD: 

The SCPD has strict rules & procedures relating to the handling of prisoners. Violations of those rules are treated extremely seriously.

As a department, we do not and will not tolerate roughing up of prisoners.

International Association of Police Chiefs:

Managing use of force is one of the most difficult challenges faced by law enforcement agencies. The ability of law enforcement officers to enforce the law, protect the public, and guard their own safety, the safety of innocent bystanders, and even those suspected or apprehended for criminal activity is very challenging. For these reasons, law enforcement agencies develop policies and procedures, as well as conduct extensive training, to ensure that any use of force is carefully applied and objectively reasonable considering the situation confronted by the officers.

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.