Chicago Police Remind Trump He Never Met With Their Top Brass

By aaroncynic in News on Aug 24, 2016 2:51PM

While Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump believes he might be able to solve Chicago’s crime problem in a week with his less-than-well-sourced platitudes on rough and tough policing, it turns out no one in the upper echelons of the Chicago Police Department consulted him on those magical ideas.

In a segment with Bill O’Reilly earlier this week, the carnival-barking Republican presidential nominee said that he once met with "very top police" who told him given the chance, they could solve Chicago’s crime epidemic in a week.

"I went to a top police officer in Chicago, who is not the police chief, and he—I could see by the way he was dealing with his people, he was a rough, tough guy. They respected him greatly, he said. I said, 'How do you think you do it?' He said, 'Mr. Trump, within one week, we could stop much of this horror show that's going on.”

According to a statement from the police department however, no such meeting—at least, none between top Chicago cops and Trump—ever took place. "We've discredited this claim months ago," CPD spokesperson Frank Giancamilli said in a statement given to NBC5. "No one in the senior command at CPD has ever met with Donald Trump or a member of his campaign."

This is the second time Trump has attempted to lean on CPD to legitimize information he more than likely conjured from thin air. Shortly after he decided to skip out on his rally at UIC, he said he made the decision on the advice of law enforcement. Police later denied such advice was given and in fact, had sufficient manpower to cover the event.

Worth a reminder: CPD did not tell Trump to cancel his Chicago rally, the campaign made that decision. pic.twitter.com/gymz87TSEh

— Aaron Cynic (@aaroncynic) August 23, 2016

As Trump and his twisted world view are often misunderstood by media (Sad!), campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks explained his comments to the Tribune: "He didn't say in the senior command, she said. “Those are your words.” Further widening the ambiguity as to the definition of what constitutes a ‘top cop,” Hicks said it meant “capable, smart and talented."

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi also tried to distance the department from Trump’s “tough” talk on crime.

"The best way to address crime is through a commitment to community policing and a commitment to stronger laws to keep illegal guns and repeat violent offenders off the street.”