National Police Association calls for investigation of Floyd riots after slamming Jan. 6 probe as ‘dog and pony show
The NPA recently criticized the decision of Congress to investigate the January 6 Capitol protest as a politically charged “dog and pony show”.
During a Wednesday interview with Fox News, Betsy Brantner Smith of the National Police Association said Congress should listen to the thousands of brave police servants who were harmed during the George Floyd street catastrophes in 2020.
“People need to see that police officers go through horrible things, and Jan. 6 was a horrible thing for some of those officers. But, quite frankly, I find this whole Jan. 6 Commission, frankly, a dog and pony show. It doesn’t tell the whole story.
Myself, like millions of Americans, sat there watching the testimony thinking, ‘Wait, where are the police officers who appeared – appeared – to let some of the protesters in? Where is the police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt? In fact, why aren’t we talking about Ashli Babbitt? I mean there’s so much more here.”
People want the TRUTH about the 2020 riots, not just about January 6th@sgtbetsysmith & @thebucksavage join @Five0Patriot on Thin Blue Line TV to discuss.
(Must see @NatPoliceAssoc poll inside!)https://t.co/OBcKlViknC
— Thin Blue Line TV (@thinbluelinetvs) July 28, 2021
Recently, four policemen who were in service during the January 6 Capitol riot testified to a House select committee about what went down that day.
According to Smith, those brave men and women are being “politicized by Congress,” and while their stories need to be heard, citizens also deserve to know the stories of “more than 2,000” officers who were hurt during 2020’s violent BLM riots.
"By complying with lawful orders, even if the subject believes they are being arrested without good reason, suspects, the public and police officers are safer", Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith (ret.), spokesperson for the NPA, told Fox News Tuesday. https://t.co/lf59wYQO4n
— National Police Association (@NatPoliceAssoc) July 7, 2021
Last week, Smith talked about a poll by the NPA and Rasmussen Reports that found 66% of American voters think Congress should start an investigation into the riots ignited by the death of George Floyd last year.
She went on to say:
“I want the American public to hear about that. And based on our survey, the American public wants to hear about that. They want to hear the testimony. You know, we have a Las Vegas police officer who is still paralyzed from the Black Lives Matter riots. We have thousands of police officers around the country who are retiring because of post-traumatic stress because of the riots.
The 2020 riots, we can’t just say the whole George Floyd thing was bad and that’s what cops have to deal with and then watch these four weeping men talk about their experiences, ignoring thousands and thousands of police officers, ignoring their feelings and their experiences and their injuries.”
The #January6thCommission is political theater. If Congress really cares about cops they'll acknowledge and investigate ALL of the violent riots of 2020 & 2021, not just the one that personally affected them. https://t.co/HdPUBlyU7l
— Betsy Brantner Smith (@sgtbetsysmith) July 28, 2021
Smith also went against the “defund the police” movement for attacking law enforcement officers and argued that the policies enacted allegedly to save Black lives are having the opposite effect.
Smith continued:
“It’s heartbreaking. I have some cops who would rather go back to Iraq than continue to work on the street, just because of the massive amounts of blood and bodies and everything they deal with that people don’t see.
It’s taking its toll. We already had a police officer mental health crisis in this country before George Floyd, and now the uptick in police officer suicides is reaching a crisis level.
The veracity of the defund the police movement is directly related to crime in that area. We’re not saving Black lives by defunding the police, by reimagining police, by vilifying the police. And that’s what I think is so disingenuous, and I think it’s confusing for people. Because I think a lot of Americans say, of course, black lives matter. I mean, who doesn’t believe that black lives matter? But yet these policies in the name of Black Lives Matter are actually killing more Black people, damaging the lives of Black people than the police ever have.
We’re reaching a tipping point and I think yesterday kind of woke some people up — I hope. I hope.”
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