President Donald Trump on Friday reaffirmed his position that convicted cop killers should be sentenced to death. “We believe the right punishment for all cop killers is called the death penalty,” the president said.
Trump renewed his position during a speech to law enforcement officers at a Kansas City Project Safe Neighborhoods conference.
“It’s called the death penalty”
“You know in some circles that is very controversial to say that — and we have all of the television cameras rolling back here — for me it’s not even a little bit controversial,” said Trump. “You kill a cop, and it’s called the death penalty, OK.”
Watch Trump’s full speech below:
Project Safe Neighborhoods is a Justice Department initiative that seeks to assist law enforcement in specifically targeting the most crime-ridden areas in communities by improving connections between law enforcement, prosecutors, and community leaders, as well as by increasing the prosecution of violent criminals.
“This effort brings together law enforcement, community groups and local leaders together to get the most violent criminals in the most dangerous areas off the streets and behind bars,” Trump explained Friday.
Campaign promises
Support of law enforcement has been a common refrain for the president since his presidential campaign in 2016. As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump promised that, should he win, he would sign an executive order requiring the death penalty for convicted cop killers. But so far, this has been one campaign promise that Trump has yet to fulfill.
Trump has brought up the death penalty multiple times, including in May during a ceremony honoring fallen law enforcement officers. “We’re not going to let bad things happen to our police,” he said in May. “We believe criminals who kill our police should get the death penalty.”
In October, Trump again told law enforcement in Florida, “Reducing crime begins with respecting law enforcement. We believe that criminals who kill our police officers should immediately, with trial, but rapidly as possible, not 15 years later, 20 years later—get the death penalty.”
Despite the talk, it doesn’t seem to be coming to fruition any time soon, as a proposal has yet to be placed before Congress.
Protecting our protectors
As a form of punishment, the death penalty remains controversial. Party affiliation is not the dividing line, as it tends to be with so many other issues. Republicans fall on both sides of the issue, as do Democrats, although the former is more often in favor of the death penalty, while the latter is more often against it.
Hostility toward law enforcement personnel is on the rise. This year, 50 officers have been killed by gunfire to date, surpassing the 2017 total of 45.
Foreknowledge of the ultimate penalty may deter violence against police, and for this reason, should be seriously considered. Just as officers protect us, so should we protect them, and Trump’s proposal might be one of the better means of doing so.
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