Top Cop Chokes Up in Front of FBI Director, Fearing for Son's Future in America

Head of public safety at a Baltimore college pleads for help from FBI chief.

ByABC News
July 13, 2016, 2:50 PM

— -- The pain and fear in a law enforcement veteran’s voice were unmistakable as he spoke in front of the director of the FBI this morning.

The head of public safety at a Baltimore college nearly came to tears pleading for help in protecting his son –- and so many other young black men and women –- from excessive force by others in his own profession.

"Full disclosure, I’ve been black for all my life, and I’m raising a young black man who is a wonderful, wonderful man, 10 years old," said Adrian Wiggins, the executive director of Campus Safety and Public Safety at Morgan State University, his voice cracking as he described his son. "I raise him right, I take him to church, I teach him right from wrong. And I’m just afraid for my son."

"I’m just being honest that my concern [is] my 10-year-old son will be" a future statistic, part of "one of these issues going down," Wiggins told FBI Director James Comey.

So, Wiggins told the director that he had a question as a "professional" and "as a father": "What is it that can be done by the [FBI] to help me sleep better at night? To help me be less afraid for my son?"

Applause erupted from the crowd of police chiefs and law enforcement professionals, gathered at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, for a conference on "safety and security" at historically black universities and colleges.

Comey acknowledged "a gap" between law enforcement and the communities they serve –- his remarks coming days after two black men were killed by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, sparking nationwide protests and allegedly inspiring a Texas man to launch a deadly rampage on police officers in Dallas.

Comey said it's "vitally important that all of us ... try very, very hard to put ourselves in the shoes of others" and understand each other more.

He said there are two things the FBI can do to help make that happen: the FBI can push for better national data on violent encounters with police so there can be a more informed discussion about the issues involved, and the FBI can foster discussion and understanding by bringing people together.

He said that while the FBI does not do "policing," the FBI's field offices across the country can have an "ability to be a convener," so he's telling those FBI offices to host get-togethers with police and members of the community, "even if you're just the ones supplying the coffee."

"You can have all kinds of feelings about groups of different kinds ... [but] when you meet enough people and see the heart of those people, your view of people changes," Comey said. "We need to play a role in bringing people together to be neighbors, even for an hour or two, to see each other and talk to each other."

As for national data on violent encounters with police, Comey said it's "absurd" that news organizations -- not government agencies -- currently have the best information on the matter.

"I hope we in government find it embarrassing," he said, noting that to address the relevant issues, the law enforcement community needs to have "rich data" like the medical community does.

"If somebody shows up at a hospital, all of you know this, with weird symptoms in Chicago, the doctors in Chicago very quickly query their computers and find out who else has seen these symptoms -- they saw it in San Francisco, they saw it in San Antonio -- and know what they’re dealing with and can respond in a good way to it,” he said. “It’s ridiculous that we can’t do the same thing as a law enforcement community, when we deal with life and death every bit as much as the medical community."

He said an effort by police departments across the country is already underway to help the FBI collect relevant data on a national scale, and that will help the public "talk in a good way" about the issues involved.

Nevertheless, Comey said, "This is a very difficult time for law enforcement in the United States." And, he warned, if Americans "are not careful" and continue to vilify law enforcement, they will regret it in years to come.

Noting that one of his own sons will soon be joining a police academy, he said it will be "a real tragedy in America" if the next generation refuses to serve the public in the same way.

"If we allow other great men and women coming out of great colleges to be dissuaded from that kind of choice, to conclude that law enforcement is something controversial ... if we allow that to happen, we will be sorry as a country," Comey said.

As for Wiggins, he knows all too well the violence facing him as a father and the top law enforcement officer at Morgan State University. Two weeks ago, his own college hosted an event calling for peace on the streets of Baltimore, and it featured a local rapper known as "La Scoota."

The rapper was gunned down only minutes after leaving the event.