President Obama on Tuesday laid out some “concrete steps” the federal government could take to help protect law enforcement officers in the wake of the Dallas and Baton Rouge police slayings.
“We do have a toolkit of best practices, training and resources and equipment that can help police departments protect their officers and make sure they can do their jobs,” Obama said late Tuesday afternoon after a meeting with his domestic criminal justice team, which included Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.
Obama specifically pledged to help police officers with new demands for “training for safety, de-escalation and dealing with active shooter cases,” which he said lack funding at the local level.
Many police departments also lack bullet-proof vests for all their officers on patrol, something he also said the federal government could help fund.
“I strongly believe that there is no contradiction between us protecting our officers and honoring our officers and making sure that they have all the tools they need to do their job and build trust between police officers and departments and the communities that they serve,” Obama said. “In fact, these things are complementary.”
The new pledges of federal assistance for police across the country came after the president’s top spokesman on Monday said it had no plans to light up the White House in blue to show support for police officers in the wake of shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge. Those police ambushes came in the wake of the killing of two black men by police in Minnesota and Louisiana.
The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation called on Obama to illuminate the White House in blue as a show of support for police around the country. He noted that the president last year ordered the White House illuminated in rainbow colors to commemorate the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriages and in 2013 it was lit up in pink to honor breast cancer awareness.
Instead, Obama has separately ordered the American flags flown at staff on all U.S. buildings and military vessels around the world to honor the police officers killed in Dallas and Baton Rouge.
