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Published January 23, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," May 13, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Right now violent crime rates spiking in cities from coast to coast. That means more work and spiked danger for our men and women in blue. But what is causing the deadly surge. FBI Director James Comey thinks it could be what he calls a viral video effect.
He thinks officers might be reluctant to confront suspects out of a fear of ending up in an internet video. Milwaukee county sheriff David Clarke joins us. Good evening sir.
DAVID CLARKE, MILWAUKEE COUNTY SHERIFF: Thanks, Greta. Great to be with you.
VAN SUSTEREN: You don't agree with the director on that.
CLARKE: No, I think he misses the mark a little bit. I'll tell you what, cops are not afraid to do their job. What they are afraid of, I got a different effect. It's called the cop hating United States Department of Justice led by a race obsessed attorney general. The president of the United States has been leading the core, slandering and maligning the character and the integrity of the service and the sacrifice of our nation's law enforcement officers.
What officers fear is some witch hunt, this ongoing witch hunt by the civil rights division taking over law enforcement agencies all across the nation. I think up they're up to 21 now that have (inaudible) where they move in and federalizing that agency and then they're looking to snag some law enforcement officer for some minor transgression. You know, we have occupational things and go horribly wrong like it did in Ferguson, Missouri who (inaudible) the officer.
Well, we have this feeling that the United States Department of Justice, we've always seen as an ally in the pursuit of justice and we will look at crime and the criminal as the enemy. Now, this attorney general and this U.S. DOJ sees the cop as the enemy and the criminal as the victim and the whole thing is flipped around, but that's what the fear is.
VAN SUSTEREN: As I look around tonight, you know, I have been to these vigils before. This is the 25th year for this vigil. I know that soon we're going to see the families of this year's fallen, and we just listened to Griff interview the parents. For someone who's only 24 years old and he died.
CLARKE: You know, it rips your heart out. It really does. And they're the true heroes. They are the ones that have -- if I could use some slang, they're the most skin in the game here. They gave it all and for them, the pain and suffering, it never goes away. It never will. It gives us an opportunity to come down here and stop the world.
Everybody in this law enforcement family, to stop the world and honor those that have gone before -- honor the names of the -- and the people whose names are going on for (inaudible) tragically. I know two New Hampshire police officers were shot in the line of duty today. I hear that they're going to survive. And in just last week in Kansas City, a Kansas city detective, Brad Lancaster I think was his name, was shot and killed in the line of duty.
We live with this danger. We accept that we just want to know that should one of us go down, that our families are taken care of and that the sacrifice was worth it. And right now, the cops are looking, you know, and starting to wonder is this really going to be worth it. They want to pay their mortgages. They want to send their kids to college.
Some of these officers want to walk their daughter down the aisle one day and that may not happen. But we're willing to do that to protect our community. But gosh, darn it, it better be worth it.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why do you think the attorney general -- you said the attorney general and the president, at least I mean, I interpret it to say they don't have your back.
CLARKE: Because this thing has been politicized. This is a political construct. This whole Black Lives Matter thing. There is no data or research, you know that. You pointed that out to suggest that the American law enforcement officers are trigger happy, they are not, and that they are racist. The president of the United States has said that our nation's law enforcement officers have a fear of people that don't look like them. I find that disgusting.
We go out there and we serve our community. The only true government agency in the United States of America that really believes that black lives matter is the American police officer who goes down into these ghettos. They don't have the resources that they need, but they go and put their best foot forward. Greta, sometimes can things can go horribly wrong in this world. Okay? And when it does, we have oversight processes. I want the process.
I want due process and a thorough investigation but I don't want any political prisoners. I don't want cops used as a sacrificial lamb to satisfy some angry mob. And I think that's what's going on in Baltimore right now.
VAN SUSTEREN: Sheriff, nice to see you. Thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you, Sheriff.
CLARKE: Greta, thank you for your support of law enforcement.
VAN SUSTEREN: Thank you, sir.
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