The National Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s oldest and largest police labor organization, announced Friday that it was endorsing Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) in the upcoming presidential election.
Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, said in a press statement the group’s members voted to endorse Trump after considering both him and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Public safety and border security will be important issues in the last months of this campaign,” he said. “Our members carefully considered the positions of the candidates on the issues and there was no doubt—zero doubt—as to who they want as our President for the next four years: Donald J. Trump.”
Yoes cited Trump’s support for law enforcement during the George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020, and his support for border security.
“During his first term, President Trump made it clear he supported law enforcement and border security,” he said.
“In the summer of 2020, he stood with us when very few would. With his help, we defeated the ‘defund the police’ movement and, finally, we are seeing crime rates decrease. If we want to maintain these lower crime rates, we must re-elect Donald Trump,” he added.
He said Yoes considered both Trump’s responses to an FOP questionnaire, as well as a letter from the Harris-Walz campaign describing some of their positions on criminal justice and police labor issues.
He said an FOP committee met personally with Trump, but no similar meeting was granted by the Harris-Walz campaign.
More than 377,000 members of the FOP were provided with the information so they could make their own decision, Yoes said.
“As the nation’s oldest and largest law enforcement labor organization, the FOP’s presidential endorsement is one of the most sought-after endorsements by candidates running for the presidency,” he said.
“The FOP is the number one voice of America’s law enforcement. We have a responsibility to our members, to the 700,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States, and to the communities they serve to do our part in determining the direction in which our country will head,” he sad.
Yoes noted that the National FOP endorsed Trump in 2016 and 2020.
“He led our nation through some very tough times,” Yoes said. “He provided our nation with strong, effective leadership during his first term, and now that he is seeking election to a second term, we intend to help him win it.”
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