Roughing up suspects not OK, Trump told

Police chiefs blast president for comments to officers about mistreating people

Police leaders across the U.S. moved quickly to distance themselves from — or to outright condemn — President Trump’s statements about “roughing up” people who’ve been arrested.

The swift public denunciations came as departments are under intense pressure to stamp out brutality and excessive force that can erode the relationship between officers and the people they police — and cost police chiefs their jobs.

Some police leaders worried that three sentences uttered by the president during a Long Island, N.Y., Friday speech could upend nearly three decades of fence-mending since the 1991 Los Angeles Police Department beating of Rodney King ushered in an era of distrust of police.

“It’s the wrong message,” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, told Washington radio station WTOP. “The last thing we need is a green light from the president . . . for officers to use unnecessary force.” Trump made the comments at a gathering of law enforcement officers at Suffolk County Community College in New York. “When you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over?” Trump said, miming the physical motion of an officer shielding a suspect’s head to keep it from bumping against the squad car.

“Like, don’t hit their head, and they just killed somebody — don’t hit their head,” Trump continued. “I said, you can take the hand away, OK?”

Across the country, police department leaders said the president’s words didn’t reflect their views.

A tweet from the Gainesville Police Department read: “The @POTUS made remarks today that endorsed and condoned police brutality. GPD rejects these remarks and continues to serve with respect.”

Suffolk County Police Department tweeted, “As a department, we do not and will not tolerate ‘rough(ing)’ up prisoners.”

Trump’s comments also drew a rebuke from the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Police departments are under increased scrutiny for violent interactions with suspects. So far this year, 574 people have been shot and killed by U.S. police, according to the Washington Post’s Fatal Force database.

Last year, 963 people were shot and killed by police officers.