EDITORIAL: Trump is wrong. Police brutality does not prevent crime

The barely latent meaning that Donald Trump made on crime during a campaign speech in Pennsylvania on Sunday is disturbingly clear and the exact opposite of what Aurora is trying to achieve.

On Sunday, Trump told his supporters at a rally that police across the country are ineffective at preventing crime because so many crimes are committed by unruly immigrants that American police have to be too careful with.

He said “a tough hour” by police would curb shoplifting across the country.

“A hard hour – and I mean really hard – will get the word out and end immediately, you know? It will end immediately,” Trump said.

This isn’t the first time Trump has supported police brutality as a crime prevention strategy. Since running for office in 2015, Trump has regularly blamed immigrants for the country’s criminal misery. He has encouraged police brutality and even insisted that police should not be punished for using excessive and even deadly force.

Infamously, as unrest began across the country following the brutal police killing of George Floyd in 2020, Trump said in a social media post: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Trump’s comments and campaign promises come at a time when Aurora is trying to bring to light its longstanding problems with police brutality and looking for ways to identify and prevent excessive use of force, particularly against people of color.

Aurora’s new police chief, Todd Chamberlain, has made great strides so far toward achieving the goals of the state’s consent decree against the Aurora Police Department: transparency, accountability and the ethical and lawful policing of the community. Chamberlain needs an opportunity to realize these goals.

What Trump is demanding and now promising is police crime and a return to Jim Crow laws and lawlessness.

As Aurora and dozens of similar communities find leaders and strategies to weed out police abusers and criminals from their ranks and create systems that identify and hold them accountable, Trump is demanding that the nation look the other way, or even promote “Goon Squad” violence. -Police gangs as a form of criminal justice.

Trump’s implication is clear. The country’s criminal justice system is unable to prevent criminal activity, and minority immigrants face beatings and pressure from police to “behave.”

In advocating for “mass deportations,” he also emphasizes that if elected, he would ensure that police receive immunity from punishment for escalating the use of force.

“We must return to power and respect,” Trump said. Police need to be “immune from prosecution because, quite frankly, our police are treated horribly. They’re not allowed to do their job.”

That is not the job of the police. The evidence in Aurora and across the country is undeniable. Too often and in too many places, people of color are mistreated by police when dealing with officers.

The fear that so many black Americans have expressed toward police is real and profound. It happens every day in America that black parents “talk” to their children of color.

It is inconceivable that Trump would promote police brutality as a crime-fighting tactic and that anyone would applaud him for such a plan.

The science is clear. “Tough on crime” rhetoric and laws do not prevent murder, theft, or other crimes. Poverty, lack of education, indifference from parents and community increase crime rates, but addressing these social problems can deter people from criminal activities.

Trump makes it clear what he wants. He is not calling for white-collar criminals like him to be treated harshly by police during their arrest and detention. Trump actually wants widespread broadcasts about police officers brutalizing suspects because he believes it makes immigrants and people of color too fearful of retaliation to commit any kind of crime.

It is the philosophy of the leaders of police states and totalitarian governments like Venezuela and Damascus, not that of Aurora and the United States.

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