Cleveland Police Union Backs Trump; Black Officers Disagree

October 6, 2016  
By Steven Wishnia and Neal Tepel

Cleveland, OH – The Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association voted by a 3-1 margin Sept. 30 to endorse Donald Trump for President.

Union President Steve Loomis had urged support for the Republican nominee, saying he was far more “pro-police” than Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The union’s members appeared to split on racial lines, with dissenters saying the endorsement would damage rebuilding the relationship between police and minority communities. “It's a sad day in Cleveland, as far as I'm concerned," Lynn Hampton, president of the African-American officers’ group Black Shield, told cleveland.com Oct. 1. “I don't think it's a good thing while we're in this paradigm shift of reform in our department.” The city was roiled by protests in November 2014 after a white officer fatally shot Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who had been waving a toy gun. The Fraternal Order of Police, the largest national police union, drew similar criticisms from black members after it endorsed Trump Sept. 16, and union President Chuck Canterbury called him “a proven leader… unafraid to make tough choices.” Read more