Show Information
Air Date: April 6, 2015
Host : Vic Eliason
Guest: Sheriff David Clark Jr.
David Clarke Jr. is the sheriff of Milwaukee County. He began his law enforcement profession in 1978 serving first with the Milwaukee Police Department where he served 24 distinguished years. In 1999, Clarke became commanding officer of MPD’s Intelligence Division which was responsible for producing and sharing intelligence and providing dignitary protection in conjunction with the Secret Service, the Department of State and other federal agencies. In 2002 he was appointed as sheriff of Milwaukee County by the sitting governor. He has been re-elected multiple times since. In May 2013 he was awarded ‘Sheriff of the Year’ from the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. Also in 2013 he received a master’s degree in Security Studies from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He has many memberships including the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and the National Sheriffs Association.
Sheriff Clarke began by noting that he sees his job and the risks involved as a calling, an opportunity and an honor. He believes it’s a privilege to work for the government, it’s not a right and the fact that he gets to make a difference and serve people in the town he grew up in is incredible.
Vic mentioned the Milwaukee unrest of 1967 and Sheriff Clarke noted that we’re seeing some of this play out today starting with the Ferguson, Missouri, protests that extended to New York, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He indicated that these later protests were anarchists involved in copycat efforts. They’re an offshoot of the anti-capitalist ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement. Their movement died out so they no longer had a cause. So when the tragic use of force incident took place in Ferguson, this same group converged on the city, exploiting the situation and the people, using it as a flashpoint to continue their socialist agenda.
When asked if there’s any abuse of police using deadly force on black males as compare to white males, his answer was interesting. Sheriff Clarke responded by communicating that research and data taken from 2009 to 2012 shows that 34% of incidents of deadly force were against black males. On the other hand, 62% of such incidents were against white males.
Sheriff Clarke believes President Obama has benefited greatly by his ‘divide and conquer’ approach as shown by his pitting of men against women, blacks against whites, rich against the poor, along with his anti-police officer approach. In the latter case he provided proof citing President Obama’s nomination of Debo Adegbile to be the Deputy Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice. This is problematic for Clarke because Adegbile took up the cause of an admitted and convicted Philadelphia cop killer who was sentenced to death.
These points and others were discussed and phone calls were taken from listeners as Vic and Sheriff Clarke took on this controversial issue dealing with law enforcement and racial issues.
