Megyn Kelly blasts Obama’s treatment of police: ‘Too often couched with … criticism’

“They are talking about the … current surge in lawlessness that contrasts with the first six months of 2014, that continued a 20-year pattern of growing public safety,” said Kelly. Then, in disbelief: “You’re telling me it has nothing to do with lower cop morale?”

“I think our nation’s reached a tipping point … Now more than ever, we should be implementing models like what we see in Camden, New Jersey, where the police have decided to reset and work with the community,” said radio host Richard Fowler. “We need to bring back officer-friendly and put police officers back in the classroom to break down the stigma and the barriers that exist between police departments and communities.”

Kelly: “But the cops listening to that would say: Wait a minute. You take certain cities. You throw allegations against an individual cop. The allegations do not withstand legal scrutiny. You get the public ginned up into believing cops are racist officers who need to be stopped. That gets disproven in many of these instances. And then your answer is: we really need to come together and … the police need to teach them that they’re not bad!”

“And the police are saying: wait a minute. You’re the ones who created the image that we are bad in a lot of these cases!” said Kelly.

“Before the surge, Megyn, there was already a surge!” chimed in conservative radio host Kevin Jackson. “Detroit – five times the crime rate of the average town, and on down the line. I mean we’re talking about two to three times the nation’s average for violent crime … prior to the surge! … The cops should be at fault, because the cops haven’t been dealing with this crime. Now I don’t blame them, because it’s bureaucrats that have implemented these policies of don’t stop and frisk, and no racial profiling, and things like this …”

“Because racial profiling doesn’t work, Kevin,” interrupted Fowler. “You look at the … Department of Justice report both in Cleveland and Ferguson, and both of them point out that when you have more racial profiling, when you have zero tolerance, you have more racism and violence.”

“In the Ferguson Department of Justice report … [there were] emails where police officers were using racial epithets to describe the community!” concluded Fowler angrily.

“That’s true,” said Kelly.

The White House is saying that the President has been very supportive of the police, but “he has, and he hasn’t,” said Kelly.

She said Obama often couches his praise of the police with a “but –” and that he’s been accused of rushing to judgment against them virtually since he took office.

“Has the Department of Justice ever gone into a police department … and found that they didn’t have a pattern of discrimination, under this president?” asked Kelly angrily. “Has it ever once happened, that they went in and said ‘You know what? You’re good, I don’t know what we’re doing here.'”

“You’re never going to hear Barack Obama talk about the many acts of kindness that cops do every single day,” said radio host Jackson.

“He does talk about that, though, Kevin,” said Kelly. “The question is whether it’s always couched, or too often, couched with a criticism.”

When Fowler again cited the example of Obama visiting and praising the Camden, N.J., police force again, Kelly rebutted: “The thing is that in Camden, they have a terribly high murder rate. Something had to be done. So all the cops got fired, and then they doubled the police force.”

“They doubled the number of police!” Kelly shouted again for emphasis. “And guess what, the murder rate went down. And guess what, what a shock: more cops led to fewer murders.”

“Beyond having more cops there, Megyn, they also implemented true community policing where they started to have a conversation with the community on how they want to be policed,” said Fowler.

“The conversation is usually a lot more effective when the police force is double the size,” said Kelly, as they all repressed a laugh.