During a recent interview, Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio offered a stark forecast for fellow law enforcement officers across the nation. Following Saturday’s execution style shooting of two New York City police officers, the Maricopa County sheriff appeared on Breitbart News Sunday to offer his thoughts.
He echoed other critics in placing at least some of the accountability on activists like Al Sharpton who have stoked racial tensions over the past several months.
“We better tell him to chill out,” he said of the civil rights leader, “knock it off, stop going to the White House, sitting next to the president, and talking about race.”
Arpaio also lambasted New York Mayor Bill de Blasio for the perception that he sided with anti-police protesters instead of the NYPD.
“If I was the mayor,” he said, “right from the beginning I would have sided with the cops. At least give them the benefit of the doubt. That’s the least you can do.”
He also pointed out the role he believes the mainstream media have had in creating such a volatile climate.
“They were leaning to the demonstrators, to the politicians,” he said. “Twenty-four hours and over and over and over again. And we needed someone to come out and say, ‘Hey, anyone messes with our cops and they’re going to jail.’”
Arpaio expressed his belief that the recent police deaths are likely portents of similar tragedies in other cities.
“It’s sickening what’s going on,” he said. “I was on a show in New York a couple of nights ago; and at that time I said I’m afraid some cops are going to get killed. And 14 hours later, it happened. It’s sad for the families, sad for the NYPD, and I’m afraid it’s going to spread across the nation.”