Hillary Clinton Calls for ‘Greater Respect’ for Cops, National Guidelines on Use of Force
The remarks came in an interview with ABC News.
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania -- In the wake of the shooting in Dallas, which left five police officers dead and wounded seven others as well as two controversial fatal police-involved shootings, Hillary Clinton on Friday called for a “greater respect” for law enforcement while also saying the country needs to enact national guidelines on the use of force.
“I think that what happened in Baton Rouge, in Minneapolis, what happened in Dallas is just tragic,” the presumptive Democratic nominee said today in an interview with ABC News' David Muir, “But it also should call on every American, what is it we can do, how do we listen to one another. You know we need to listen to African-Americans who say they feel on edge all the time.”
Late Thursday night, 11 Dallas police officers were shot ambush-style, including five fatally amid a protest against the recent police-involved deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota, according to the Dallas Police.
Clinton told Muir that she watched the video of Castile’s death in “horror and disbelief.”
“A routine traffic stop, a routine arrest, escalating to the point where a gun is drawn and a life is lost. That’s why I am absolutely calling for national guidelines about the use of force,” she said. “Ever single one of our police officers should be trained and retrained in understanding how to avoid force.”
“I think the vast majority of police officers in our country are serving honorably and bravely. And that’s why it’s very important we support their work, that we respect their service, and at the same time we put in place guidelines to make sure that every police officer understands what is expected of him or her,” she added
Clinton had been planning on delivering remarks about the Castile and Sterling shootings -- which have sparked protests across the country -- while campaigning alongside Vice President Joe Biden in his hometown of Scranton, Penn., Friday, but that event has been postponed following the police shootings in Dallas.
This morning, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump tweeted his condolences to those impacted by the shooting in Dallas, and, in a statement. called for restoring “the confidence of our people to be safe and secure in their homes and on the street.”
He also commented on the deaths of Sterling and Castile for the first time. “The senseless, tragic deaths of two motorists in Louisiana and Minnesota,” Trump said, “Reminds us how much more needs to be done.”