A former Illinois police chief predicted that the votes of law enforcement professionals and their families will determine the outcome of the election as officers consider the possibility of increased lawlessness on American streets under a Vice President Harris administration.
Police officers and their families [Harris’] “That's anti-police, so it's not on the agenda,” he said in retirement. Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel He spoke to Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview.
“You can look at her record. I mean, it goes all the way back to when she supported the Minneapolis Freedom Fund. I don't have evidence that she donated, but I do have evidence that she promoted it, which raised more money for the Freedom Fund. The Freedom Fund is basically a bond fund to release prisoners on bail. Many of the prisoners who were released on bail were attacking police officers during the riots, particularly the George Floyd riots.”
Weitzel said his comments about 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Harris and her opponent, former Republican President Trump, were made from the perspective of public safety, avoiding the typical Republican-vs-Democrat political trope and comparing the candidates based on their track records in reducing crime and supporting law enforcement.
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This photo shows Tom Weitzel when he was police chief in Riverside, Illinois. (Tom Weitzel)
Weitzel argued that police votes could sway the outcome of elections, noting that when families and loved ones are taken into account, the number of police votes reaches about 1.5 million.
“I read an article the other day that said there are over 710,000 police officers, full-time police officers, in the United States. [840,000] “If you include federal law enforcement agencies and professional institutions like universities, which include many votes from law enforcement officers you know, their spouses, their children, their friends, it's quite possible that the total could be over 1.5 million votes,” Weitzel explained.
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Weitzel retired in 2021 after 13 years as police chief in Riverside, about 12 miles from downtown Chicago. He served a total of 37 years on the police force, including being ambushed and shot by Chicago criminals while on duty in 1987.
Vice President Harris greeted President Biden at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19, 2024. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital spoke with Weitzel just days after prominent Democrats descended on Chicago for the Democratic National Convention and Harris formally accepted the party's presidential nomination. Harris touted her background in the military and in law enforcement as district attorney of San Francisco and attorney general of California, but she never fully endorsed police or emergency personnel.
Harris used the word “law enforcement” three times during her Thursday night speech, twice referring to Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters breached the U.S. Capitol.
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“Let me be clear: having served in law enforcement for decades, I understand the importance of safety and security, especially at the border. Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades, and the Border Patrol supported it. But Donald Trump believed the border agreement would hurt his campaign and ordered our allies in Congress to scrap it,” Harris said, mentioning law enforcement for the third and final time in her speech.
Republican presidential nominee and former president Donald Trump touches the turnout gear of former Buffalo Township Fire Chief Corey Comperatore during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18, 2024. (Reuters/Gina Moon)
Weitzel said it was a “big mistake” for Harris not to try to build relationships with police during her speech, pointing out that Trump, in contrast, further deepened ties with police and emergency personnel when he delivered an emotional eulogy for retired Fire Chief Cory Comperatore at the Republican National Convention in July.
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Comperatore was killed last month during a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when gunman Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate the 45th president, who was wounded by a bullet that grazed his ear.
“Corey was a highly respected former fire chief. He was accompanied by his wife, Helen, and their two precious daughters,” Trump said during his convention speech. “He gave his life as a human shield to protect them from the bullets that were flying. He was a truly honorable man.”
Trump also walked over to Comperatore's firefighter's jacket and helmet, which his family had sent to the convention, and observed a moment of silence. Pennsylvania's Dad.
Weitzel said Harris made a mistake by not praising first responders in her speech, but argued that Trump's “human touch” in praising Comperatore spoke volumes to those who work in public safety.
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Former President Trump famously raised his fist and yelled at the crowd to “fight” after surviving an assassination attempt in July. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Trump honored a firefighter who lost his life in an assassination attempt. Did you see him walk up to where there was a mannequin dressed in a fire suit? This respect for the fire department is the same respect we have for police, which is in the realm of public safety. Fire and police are in the realm of public safety, which is why police officers support Trump…. This humanity and support shown to the slain fire chief at the Republican National Convention is the same reason police support Trump and have supported him since he took office,” Weitzel said.
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Weitzel said the election is a battle of “lawlessness versus law and order” and that police support for Trump's candidacy will only grow as the election cycle stretches into the fall.
The former police chief said officers he has spoken to are “concerned” about the possibility of a Harris administration after Democrats across the country turned their backs on police officers and rallied support for defunding the police amid unrest following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Tom Weitzel (Tom Weitzel)
“They're very worried. Don't get me wrong, Trump is not perfect. Nobody's saying everything he does is great. … I'm just speaking from a public safety perspective. And certainly they're worried that if Kamala Harris becomes president and her administration doesn't support police, that's going to be a big problem. I mean … you're talking about the U.S. Department of Justice. You're talking about funding for police agencies, federal grants. You're talking about policy that will be set nationwide. And you just have this framework. [that’s] “Anti-police and anti-police policies. You know what that creates? It creates lawlessness,” he said.
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Harris worked in law enforcement before joining the Senate in 2017.
On April 29, 2004, then-District Attorney Kamala Harris walked into the courtroom in San Francisco just before the trial of David Hill, a suspect in the shooting death of San Francisco police officer Isaac Espinoza. (Paul Chin/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
She began her legal career in 1990 as a deputy prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office. In the late 1990s, she moved to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office as a deputy prosecutor, then moved to the San Francisco City Attorney's Office, where she ran for San Francisco's top police officer in 2004. She was elected district attorney of San Francisco and served in that position for about seven years. During that time, she developed a friendship with then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama, and also with Representative Nancy Pelosi, who is also from California.
Harris expressed sympathy for the violent protesters in 2020 who swept across the U.S. at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and upended daily life for Americans.
“If you're able, please donate now to the @MNFreedomFund to help pay bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota,” Harris wrote in a 2020 post on Twitter, urging people to donate to the fund during the 2020 election cycle.
Governor Harris touted the creation of a bail fund to help secure bail for Black Lives Matter rioters in June 2020, but subsequent reports revealed that only a small portion of the more than $41 million raised actually went toward the release of rioters.
Weitzel pointed to Harris' push for bail funds and her failure to prosecute some criminals while she served as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.
Presidential candidate Vice President Harris attends the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
“very Famous incidents from 2004 “When a San Francisco police officer was brutally killed with an AK-47 and three days after the officer was buried, she made a statement that she would not seek the death penalty, and even the California Democratic Party did not support her on that,” he said.
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Weitzel was referring to the 2004 death of 29-year-old San Francisco police officer Isaac Espinoza, who was shot and killed by gang members while trying to avoid arrest for possession of a firearm. Harris declined to seek the death penalty for the gunman, saying:Sending the wrong message“, leading to criticism of the decision from Democratic lawmakers at the time.
“This is clearly a case in which local politics took precedence over careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of this case,” the California Democrat said at the time of Harris' ruling.
According to the New York Post, Espinosa's family later stated that they would not support Harris' 2024 presidential bid.
Kamala Harris is pictured here on October 29, 2008, when she was San Francisco's district attorney. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
As police officers and their families head to the polls this year, Weitzel urged them to reflect on the “lawlessness” that has played out on American streets since 2020 and to vote on a platform that speaks to public safety.
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“There is a lot of lawlessness in this country. It's visible. You just have to follow any social media account to see it. You can see it in the local news,” he said. “Politicians claim they can ignore the police and do whatever they want. And I can assure you that more police officers are being assaulted, beaten and attacked than ever before.”
Former President Trump and Vice President Harris (Getty Images)
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“In fact, a study just came out that shows that an American police officer is not shot to death, but shot in the line of duty at the rate of one every 22 hours. If this trend continues, by the end of 2024 there will be more police shootings and fatalities than ever before.”
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