Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker blasted President Barack Obama for not stepping up to denounce protesters and rhetoric calling for violence against police officers following two high-profile law enforcement murders in less than a week.
“I’ve just seen an absolute vacuum in leadership from the White House,” Walker said in an interview with TheBlaze Thursday evening. “Now more than ever we need to stand up and remind people that the people who protect us every single day are the police officers, the sheriff’s deputies, the state troopers. We need to have their back because they have our back all the time. I think the problem is this president has been completely devoid in standing up and pointing that out.”
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Fox Lake, Illinois, police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz and Harris County, Texas, Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth, were both killed over the last week amid continuing protests from the Black Lives Matter movement, some of which have seemed to advocate for violence against police.
“We need leaders at all levels, at the local level, the state level, and definitely at the federal level to speak out against the sort of rhetoric that is making our police office and sheriff’s deputies more vulnerable,” the Republican 2016 contender said. “The American people are looking for someone to stand up and lead on this. Certainly there are people like myself and many others who have tried to, but the president of the United States has a bully pulpit unlike anyone else in the world."
Walker said there are “absolutely” issues to deal with regarding race and the justice system, but he said those issues can only be solved if people unite.
“We need to figure out ways not to divide America, or we are going to get more division. Instead we need to find ways to unite America,” Walker said. “One of the things we can start with is recognizing the overwhelming majority of people in law enforcement are doing the job they were asked to do every day under difficult circumstances. They are risking their lives to keep our families and us safe. We need to start with the premise that they need to be applauded. They need to be protected. They need to know that people in positions of leadership are going to have their back.”
Eight police officers have been shot and killed in the U.S. in the last month. According to the Associated Press, six officers appear to have been targeted in the last year specifically because they worked in law enforcement. However, the AP reported that shooting deaths for police officers are actually down.
Obama has been critical of police on a number of occasions, and established a White House task force on policing following several high-profile altercations with police that resulted in the deaths of black men. He said the Ferguson Police Department has been “oppressive and abusive” to blacks following a Justice Department finding that the department had a pattern of racial bias and used excessive force. Obama has said that monitoring police is one way to prevent violent crime and called the situation in Baltimore with the death of Freddie Gray an example of a “slow-rolling crisis” between police and minority communities.
For his part, Walker signed legislation in Wisconsin requiring an independent investigation outside the department whenever someone dies in police custody.
“In my state, I’m proud to say I’m the first governor — I believe the only governor right now in the nation — that requires an independent investigation anytime there is a death of a suspect in police custody,” Walker said. “I think that is not only a good law not only for the public as a whole, it’s a good law for law enforcement. If something were to happen, it allows an independent review to show that police officer or that deputy or whoever it might be followed the proper process, and the vast, vast majority are going to be shown to have done exactly what they were shown to do in a difficult situation. In the rare instance in which they are not, there will be an independent review that will show that and that person will be held accountable.”
Walker continued: “The problem is, there is a building problem that just because there are a couple people who have done something that wasn’t right, that somehow that is a reflection of everyone. And that is just wrong.”
