Trump endorsement by police group exposes divide among ranks

The FOP and Trump were to have appeared at a rally last Monday in Philadelphia, weeks after the endorsement was made. But the event was abruptly cancelled after the release of a video from 2005 in which Trump can be heard making a series of vulgar and sexually aggressive remarks about women.

The cancellation triggered talk among police that it came in response to the video and to pushback from officers already angry over the endorsement. Chuck Canterbury, president of the 340,000-member organization, told The Associated Press that the event was cancelled because Hurricane Matthew struck his hometown of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and that he hopes to reschedule it.

Canterbury said any endorsement is determined by agreement of at least two-thirds of the group’s 45 state lodges. The national FOP and its executive board have no say in the matter, he said.

The FOP has a history of backing Republicans. A recent exception was Bill Clinton during his re-election in 1996, after the Crime Bill of 1994 paid for the hiring of thousands of new officers across the country.

The only time the group hasn’t endorsed a presidential candidate in its 102-year history was in 2012, when neither Republican Mitt Romney nor Democrat Barack Obama was seen as friendly enough to its cause.

Several leaders among black police groups said they considered the FOP endorsement to be a reflection of an organization dominated by whites who are insensitive to the needs of black communities and black officers.

“Trust me, it was a group of white males who made that decision,” said Fisher, who retired a year ago after nearly three decades as a Philadelphia detective and officer. He noted that black officers often live in the communities they serve, some of the same neighbourhoods feeling disenfranchised and at odds with police.

“I go home to an African-American community,” Fisher said. “After every shooting and every illegal stop, I go and I have to sit in a barbershop. There are some things you can never defend.”

Canterbury rejected any suggestion that the endorsement decision was made by “50 old white guys sitting around a table. … Members all across the country made that decision.”

Reggie Miller, the chairman of the National Black Police Association and a retired officer from Nashville, Tennessee, disputed the idea that Trump is a law-and-order candidate and said he’s offered more platitudes than details on how to combat police shootings, racism and inequities.

“When you say ‘restore law and order,’ what does that mean? How do you do that? Or do you want to bring back stop and frisk?” he said, referring to a police tactic widely seen as based on racial profiling.

Trump has won support for carving out time at his stops around the country to shake hands of the police providing security. But it hasn’t been without controversy.

In Summit County, Ohio, for example, Sheriff Steve Barry took flak after SWAT team officers posed for a photo with Trump — a move that appeared to some to be a political endorsement. Barry, a Democrat, took to Facebook to say the photo op was simply a memento.

Such stops, however, have endeared Trump to officers who believe he has their backs. Few seem interested in supporting Hillary Clinton, who has long had a frosty relationship with law enforcement.

“Law enforcement in general feels Donald Trump is genuine when he talks about law enforcement. He’s been complimentary. He has defended law enforcement,” said Travis Yates, editor of lawofficer.com. “There is a sense that he genuinely cares.”

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Associated Press writer Jeff Horwitz in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow Lisa Marie Pane on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lisamariepane. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/lisa-marie-pane

Lisa Marie Pane, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Trump endorsement by police group exposes divide among ranks

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