New York State Police Benevolent Association President Mike O'Meara slammed the media for attempting to vilify all police officers in the wake of the tragic killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. According to O'Meara, the NYPD has over 375 million interactions with the public each year, the majority of which have "been overwhelmingly positive."
Despite that, the police union president said the media's projection of what's taking place in the United States is different than what's actually occurring.
"But I read in the papers all week – we all read in the papers – that in the black community, mothers are worried about their children getting home from school without being killed by a cop. What world are we living in? That doesn't happen!" he exclaimed. "It. Does. Not. Happen."
O'Meara reminded the press that each individual cop is not Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, the officer who pressed his knee into George Floyd's neck, resulting in Floyd's death.
"He killed someone. We didn't. We are restrained and you know what? I'm saying this to all the cops here, because you know what?" the union president said. "Everybody's trying to shame us – the legislators, the press. Everybody's trying to shame us into being embarrassed above our profession."
"This isn't stained by someone in Minneapolis," he said, pulling his badge out of his pocket. "It's still got a shine on it."
"And so do theirs," O'Meara said, pointing to the officers behind him. "So do theirs. Stop treating us like animals and thugs and start treating us with some respect. That's what we're here today to say. We've been left out of the conversation. We've been vilified. It's disgusting. It's disgusting trying to make us embarrassed of our profession."
"Nobody talks about all of the police officers that were killed in the last week in the United States of America and there were a number of them. We don't condone Minneapolis. We roundly reject what he did as disgusting. It's disgusting. It's not what we do. It's not what police officers do," he explained. "Our legislators abandoned us. The press is vilifying us."
"Well, you know what guys?" he asked, turning toward the officers behind him. "I'm proud to be a cop and I'm going to continue to be proud to be a cop until the day I retire. And that's all I have to say."
O'Meara is absolutely correct. The media is doing everything in their power to chide every single police officer out there. The officer that killed George Floyd was a bad apple. He should have been fired a LONG time ago. He had 17 complaints against him. And who let him go? Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the then-District Attorney.
Officers across the country are being targeted by rioters simply because they're doing their job. It's like post-Ferguson all over again.
If people have issues with the judicial system they need to take it up with their legislators. They're the ones who make the rules. The cops are just the ones enforcing them.