Police Union President Equates Police Reform Protests with "Culture of Hatred Toward Law Enforcement," Casts Blame for Murder of Two New York Cops

The president of Portland's rank-and-file police union—clearly in an extremely emotional state over the slaying this weekend of two New York City police officers—has blamed the "cold-blooded assassination of two of New York's finest" on ongoing demands for stronger police accountability in the wake of several high-profile shootings and deaths in custody this year.

Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, posted a letter to his members telling them that reasonable demands—for increased civilian oversight, expanded community policing, de-militarization of police forces, and a willingness to address and solve the racially disparate effects of policing, among others—are the very same thing as "creating a culture of hatred towards law enforcement nationwide."

Turner's statement casts his ire, and blame, equally at "media, politicians, and community activists [who] have been vilifying the police." He goes on to say their words "fueled" the anger of the man who shot the two officers in New York—along with "the anger of many Americans." It's a statement that echoes the inflammatory "wartime" comment of New York's leading police union boss.

How did this happen? The cold-blooded assassination of two of New York's finest in broad daylight? For months now, the media, politicians and community activists have been vilifying the police. They call us murderers and racists. Now, these same people who so quickly crucified the police are backpedaling. They are blaming a crazed gunman for the deplorable shooting. But it is their very words that fueled his anger and the anger of many Americans with unfounded accusations characterizing all police as brutal thugs. They have created a culture of hatred towards law enforcement nationwide. This can’t go on.

And it also misunderstands the community frustration that's fueling what have largely been peaceful and constructive protests (other than when the same few people shout expletives at riot cops), not the other way around. In Portland, organizers led by young people of color have taken the streets with specific demands for change—and those organizers have pledged to hold monthly meetings with Mayor Charlie Hales to see some of those details become reality.

The police accountability movement in Portland is one reason why some of the strains at play in Ferguson and elsewhere, which even incoming Police Chief Larry O'Dea definitively sees as important enough to address, are better here than in other parts of the country.

Turner's statement calls for a massive community conversation including cops and government officials so we can "stop the anti-police movement." But that fails to understand the thrust of many of the conversations this city's already been having—that they're not anti-police, but pro- the kind of police bureau Portlanders want to see.

A police bureau where this sentiment, expressed over the summer by Mayor Charlie Hales, is true.

No law-abiding people should ever have reason to fear the police. Yet we must honestly admit that, too often, this is not true for a wide swath of our community: people of color.

Read Turner's statement after the jump.