First on Fox — A nonpartisan police leadership organization that notes it is the only national law enforcement advocacy group to endorse political candidates is considering a 2024 White House race between Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump.
for community safety, police leaders said Monday that this Support for HarrisThis was said in an announcement first shared with Fox News.
The organization — which says it is led by a diverse group of leading police professionals who have been at the helm of several prominent national law enforcement leadership groups — highlights that its mission is to “advocate for policies to make communities and the people who live in them safer, improve and evolve policing, and protect the rule of law.”
The group’s endorsement marks the first time Harris has received the support of a major law enforcement group, while earlier this month the nation’s largest police union, the National Fraternal Order of Police, also endorsed Trump.
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Fox News)
“This endorsement reflects Vice President Harris’ track record and her unwavering commitment to public safety and the rule of law,” said Sue Riesling, president of Police Leaders for Community Safety.
Police Leaders for Community Safety Board member David Mahoney, the former sheriff of Dane County, Wisconsin, and a past president of the National Sheriffs’ Association, said Harris “has spent her prosecutorial career protecting the public, supporting victims, and holding accountable those who have harmed others and broken the public trust. As a lawmaker, she has fought hard for critical law enforcement-supported policies needed to fight crime and protect the public.”
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Additionally, board vice president Rick Myers, a former police chief in eight communities across several states, said that “too many politicians portray themselves as tough on crime and say they support law enforcement, but then don’t have the courage to do the right thing to keep us safe… We need a leader who will save both the Second Amendment and our nation from the scourge of gun violence, and that leader is Kamala Harris.”
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign stop at Throwback Brewery on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in North Hampton, New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
Despite downward trends in many crime categories nationally, crime remains a top issue in the minds of American voters.
Trump has argued that Harris, a former prosecutor, San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, is soft on crime and anti-police and has blamed her for San Francisco’s persistent crime problem.
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The former president and Republican candidate have called for more aggressive policing, less oversight from the federal government and more militarized equipment for local police departments.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at Wilmington International Airport on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Wilmington, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Harris has highlighted Trump’s legal controversies — he made history earlier this year as the first former or sitting president to be convicted of a felony — and argued that he has been hostile toward law enforcement agencies that have investigated him.
The vice president and Democratic Party nominee highlighted the Biden-Harris administration’s record on law enforcement funding through the pandemic relief fund. She advocates for stronger federal oversight and less militarized equipment for local police departments.
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Harris’ campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement following the endorsement that “As a prosecutor who has stood with law enforcement throughout her career, Vice President Harris has taken a tough and smart approach to crime: increasing conviction rates, holding violent offenders accountable, and keeping communities safe. She has also worked tirelessly to make the criminal justice system more fair — especially for communities of color.”
He argued that “This November, Americans will choose a man who has spent his entire life upholding the rule of law over a man who has been convicted of breaking the law.”
The Harris campaign noted that the latest endorsement comes after 100 law enforcement officials endorsed the vice president, including officers who protected the US Capitol during the January 6, 2021 attack by Trump supporters, and more than 700 national security officials.
