Sheriff Clarke: Police Have Been Dragged Into This Political Parade with War on Cops

Some police officers in San Antonio, Texas are in hot water after wearing Donald Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” hats while on duty.

The officers involved were part of the motorcade escorting the Republican presidential nominee to and from San Antonio International Airport. Police Chief William McManus said the officers violated policy and would be disciplined.

Milwaukee County sheriff David Clarke joined the FOX Business Network to weigh in.

“It’s customary after a candidate leaves or the President visits that the candidate or the president shakes hands with the officers; that’s a high risk job those motorcades,” he said. “It’s something that’s just symbolic, it’s not that big a deal. I think it’s nitpicking. But I’ll tell you this as well… if those cops would’ve been wearing Black Lives Matter baseball caps or tee-shirts, these same people complaining or this whole outrage, wouldn’t have had a problem with it.”

Clarke said he disagrees with the notion of having a non-politicized police force.

“We’ve [police] been dragged into this political parade with this war on cops,” he said. “Everything we do now is examined through the political lens. There was a time when police officers… it was an unwritten rule… you know, keep your head down on politics, stay out of it. But now that it’s no longer a tenable position when every time a law enforcement officer engages in some sort of force or use of force all of a sudden the political witch-hunt begins.”

He added: “Cops can still do their jobs and still do it evenly across the board. They still have political feelings, they’ll still vote. It’s like saying they shouldn’t vote because as long as they do it secretly we’re okay with it. Well no, teachers unions engage in this all the time. If a teacher reports to school in a car that says ‘I support Hillary’ and goes in and teaches all day where the public and the school children are walking past those cars on a public school parking lot, that’s the same thing but nobody seems to have a problem with that. I don’t want teachers engaged in that either. We live in a very political world right now and I don’t have a problem with it.”