Police, civil liberties advocates reject Trump's push for 'rough' treatment of suspects

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

published 29 July 2017

President Trump spoke to a group of police officers on Long Island, New York, Friday, sparking controversy for his encouragement of physically aggressive policing tactics.

"When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon — you just see them thrown in, rough — I said, 'please don't be too nice,'" Trump said. "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,' okay?"

Trump's comments were met with laughter from his law enforcement audience, but quickly came under broad criticism for their apparent endorsement of police brutality. "Law enforcement officers are trained to treat all individuals, whether they are a complainant, suspect, or defendant, with dignity and respect," said a statement from the International Association of Chiefs of Police. "This is the bedrock principle behind the concepts of procedural justice and police legitimacy."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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