In a story that bodes ill for Cleveland, Ohio and the future of comumunity/police relations here — which are already abysmal — the Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Association voted in a landslide to endorse Donald Trump.
Earlier they had voted very narrowly to take an endorsement vote 25-24. All of those voting to endorse were white. Half those voting NOT to endorse were black or Latino.
Cleveland’s police department is in such bad shape vis a vis its interactions with the community that it is currently under a Justice Department consent decree and a panel has been convened to recommend changes. That panel currently appears to be derailed, with some members having resigned and Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Association Steve Loomis on the panel and loudly telling anyone who will listen that there are no problems with the police, and that they need to make no changes because in his mind, cops never do anything wrong.
Needless to say, the black community — along with many others — sees things differently.
On November 22, 2014, two poorly trained officers, one of whom should never have been hired, violating proper procedures, rolled up their patrol car to within feet of 12-year-old Tamir Rice and execute him within seconds. There may not have been riots in Cleveland but don’t think the community isn’t seething.
Recently the play was put together by local actors, playwrights and the outstanding black director Terrence Spivey called “Objectively/Reasonable: A community Response to the Shooting of Tamir Rice 11/22/14.”
It stuck a nerve. It was sold out through most of its run. The theater is getting all kinds of requests to present excerpts or to redo the play in various forums.
Into this community full of anger and grief, the Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Association throws this nuclear weapon. Needless to say, black officers aren’t happy that the organization has just made the job of police officers more staggeringly difficult in Cleveland.
The president of the union representing black officers worried the vote for Trump — who has made a series of statements that have drawn criticism from black and Hispanic voters — could divide the community.
"It's a sad day in Cleveland, as far as I'm concerned," Black Shield president Lynn Hampton said Saturday in a phone interview with cleveland.com. "I don't think it's a good thing while we're in this paradigm shift of reform in our department."
These thugs — many of whom now live outside the city since the state-level Republicans overturned home rule and local residency requirements — will now be seen even more as an occupying force, hostile to the community they police. It’s a very tragic day for Cleveland.