AMAC chief rails against anti-cop attitudes that undermine safety

RELEASE FROM ASSOCIATION OF MATURE AMERICAN CITIZENS

Super Bowl 50 caused quite a stir last Sunday, not because of the outcome but because of its half-time show.

Many who saw the mid-game entertainment segment were up in arms over the not-so-subtle anti-police theme-so much so that it sparked a call for a massive protest next week at NFL headquarters in New York City, reports Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens.

“Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani was among the first to condemn the performance by pop music star Beyonce’ for her revue featuring an apparent salute to such groups as the Black Panther and Black Lives Matter movements. Both of these organizations have been consistently hostile to police and Giuliani took offense at the use of the Super Bowl to promote a troublingly biased political position,” according to Weber.

The AMAC chief said he was in total agreement with Giuliani’s description of the event as “outrageous.” For one thing, Beyoncé’s performance was “decidedly divisive” and likely to provoke more anti-cop sentiment.

As Giuliani put it: “What she should be doing in the African American community and in all communities is build up respect for police.”

Weber pointed out that arbitrarily using forums such as the Super Bowl to promote animosity toward law enforcement officers are doing themselves a disservice. “They are undermining their own safety because it leads to restrictions on the ability of the police to provide protection and because it puts the police on the defensive.”

Tactics such as “stop and frisk” that allowed police officers to do just that when they came across suspicious activity have been widely curtailed. “And the results don’t sit well with many concerned citizens, particularly victims of violent crime and their families,” Weber said.

“In New York City where the current Mayor Bill de Blasio shut down the practice when he took office, there was an outcry when a weekend crime spree left four people dead last Spring. One local resident told reporters, ‘with all these shootings, people getting killed, do it, but stop and frisk the guys you know from experience might have a gun.’ And, that’s what it’s all about, trusting lawmen to do the right thing.”