U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis was joined by Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis President Bob Kroll for a “Back the Blue” town hall Monday night in Eagan, Minnesota.
“The law enforcement profession in America is under unrelenting and unprecedented attack. It is incumbent upon every public official to defend and support law enforcement. Calls to defund and abolish the police are contributing to an increasingly toxic culture in which our policemen and women are being vilified and targeted. Somebody needs to stand up and say enough is enough,” Lewis opened the event.
Kroll spoke during the town hall and briefly discussed the “Hugo thing,” referring to a protest outside his home earlier this month in which DFL House candidate John Thompson threatened to burn down Kroll’s neighborhood.
“This is an opportunity for all of us to work those people that are middle of the road, common-sense Democrats that want law and order,” said Kroll.
He said the one thing his fellow officers regret from this summer’s unrest “is that they weren’t allowed to stop those riots that were going on.”
“They would have been able to do it had the politicians above them not restricted them from doing it. Let’s be clear about that,” Kroll continued. “There are 1,500 businesses gone and over half a billion dollars in damages, and that didn’t have to be. It could have been shut down if we had what Jason is talking about: law and order, and support from the top.”
Lewis later criticized his opponent, Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, for her failure to fulfill the “first duty of government,” which is to “protect life, liberty and property.”
“If they can’t get this right, nothing else matters,” Lewis continued. “If Democrats win this November, the violent mob will control our streets, emboldened by inflammatory, anti-law enforcement politicians like Sen. Tina Smith. After days of looting and arson, Smith encouraged more ‘righteous protests.’ Shortly thereafter, she took to the Senate floor to say there is something ‘dangerously wrong with the role police play in our society.’ And she torpedoed common-sense police reforms in the Senate.”
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Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
