By Natalia Castro
President Barack Obama’s war on police has spilled over into the presidential race for 2016. Of course this was not all of Obama’s doing, but a string of actions by the Democratic party which have isolated police officers throughout the country has led to the Fraternal Order of Police’s endorsement of Donald Trump for President.
Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 made waves just before the Democratic National Convention when the DNC invited “victims of police brutality” to speak without inviting any dedicated police officers.
Lodge President, John J. McNesby, wrote, “It is sad that to win an election Mrs. Clinton must pander to the interests of people who do not know all the facts, while the men and women they seek to destroy are outside protecting the political institutions of this country.” He continued with the first clear removal of the order from the Clinton campaign, noting “Mrs. Clinton you should be ashamed of yourself if that is possible.”
The letter solidified that the order would never endorse Clinton, but the full break from the Democratic Party began years ago when President Obama decided all Police Officers were committing gross civil rights violations and had to be reprimanded.
The lawsuits against police departments around the country resulted in consent decrees similar to the Newark case from March 30. 2016. The 77-page decree between the City and the Department of Justice had the police department admit to constitutional violations and put in place a five-year compliance review board with two-year implementation deadlines. Complete with full Civil Rights Division monitoring, local policing becomes regulated by federal authorities.
Major cities from Miami to Los Angeles are now subject to these federal intrusions.
As the Obama Administration continued suffocating local police departments and state power over the course of his 8 years in office, Clinton was having them protect the people who were insulting their job. The officers did their jobs willingly through this turmoil to avoid politics, but an endorsement of the Clinton campaign was out of the question.
Tides changed for the 330,000-member police union when Trump presented himself as the “law and order” candidate. Trump has made himself an ally rather than a politically silent bystander. Fraternal Order President, Chuck Canterbury told reporters “Mr. Trump has seriously looked at the issues facing law enforcement today. He understands and supports our priorities and our members believe he will make America safe again.”
As Canterbury praised the Republican Party’s commitment to law enforcement, he noted Clintons neglect to even seek the organization’s endorsement. Canterbury told Politico that Clinton did not even return the group’s questionnaire until a month after the deadline had passed. Not only has she not supported law enforcement but she continued to treat those working to protect the country as irrelevant to our safety and security.
While Clinton’s dismissal of law enforcement needs has devastated her chance of their support, the legacy of the Democratic party’s blatant disrespect for police has led to their endorsement of Trump. As the police work to provide law and order throughout the country, the Fraternal Order of Police made it clear their candidate must support law and order as well.
Natalia Castro is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.
