Mass. Police Chief: Anti-Police 'Rhetoric' From W
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Warren called criminal justice system 'racist.'
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is under fire from police officials in Massachusetts after she said the U.S. criminal justice system is "racist ... front to back."
Warren made the remarks August 3 at New Orleans' Dillard University, a historically black college. She cited disproportionate arrests of African-Americans for petty drug possession, an overloaded public defender system and state laws barring convicted felons from voting after their sentences are complete.
In a letter to Warren, Dudley Police Chief and Massachusetts Chief of Police Association President Steven Wojnar said he was "extremely troubled" by the senator's comments.
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Other Massachusetts police chiefs and even Attorney General Jeff Sessions condemned Warren's remarks.
In a statement obtained by The Boston Globe, Warren responded to the backlash, saying, "I spoke about an entire system — not individuals — and will continue to work on reforms to make the criminal justice system fairer."
On "Fox & Friends First," Wojnar said labeling the entire criminal justice system as "racist" just creates further hostility toward officers.
He noted that two Massachusetts officers have been killed in the past four months and two others were shot and wounded in the town of Falmouth several weeks ago.
"It's just this perpetuated violence against police that really has to stop. The rhetoric and the talk and generalizing police in this category is not helpful," Wojnar said. "Stop the rhetoric. Stop the bashing of police."
He added that "when a certain fragment of society" continually hears this type of rhetoric that police officers are racist, it makes it more dangerous for officers each day.
Wojnar called on all elected officials to observe firsthand what police officers across the country deal with each day.
"Get down to know it, rather than just talk about it."