It wasn't a surprise when President Donald Trump penned his recent executive order that calls "for cities to unleash high-impact local police forces." In 2017, the president told a police audience about handling crime suspects: "When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon. You just see them thrown in—rough. I said, 'Please don't be too nice.'"
The official line was that he was just joking, but even some police officials were uncomfortable with making light of police brutality. In the ensuing years, Trump's rhetoric has only gotten worse. His recent use of the word unleashing wasn't by accident. Unleash means "to let happen or begin something powerful that, once begun, cannot be controlled."
The purpose of the Constitution is to put the leash on the government and its agents. In the Declaration of Independence, colonists complained that the British king "sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance." Police officers are the front line between the government and the people—and few others have such power to deprive us of our liberties and lives.
