Transcript:
President Trump: Going in. I didn’t say when. We’re going in. When you look I have an obligation.
This isn’t a political thing. I have an obligation.
Greta Van Susteren: National Police Association spokesperson and retired Chicago area police officer, Sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith joins me. Nice to see you.
Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith: Thanks for having me, Greta.
Greta Van Susteren: Okay. What’s the story? Can you I mean, obviously, we’re a very political country right now. You know, it’s your you know, shirts or skins to Republicans or Democrats. But sort of stripping that away and looking at the condition in the streets of Chicago and what the people are going through, you know, does Chicago need help, outside help, federal help?
Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith: Well, absolutely. And Chicago has federal help. The Chicago Police Department already works with its federal partners, but I know that they would like more. The boots on the ground cops want more. The Chicago police department like most large blue cities is desperately short staffed and federal law enforcement is there, but they would like additional resources I’m told.
However, they’ve got such pushback from Governor Pritzker and from Mayor Brandon Johnson who are conflating the facts about what’s actually happening in Chicago and what the federal government can do. What are the resources they need? Is it manpower? Is it equipment? Is it that the police force is not fully staffed because there’s a morale problem?
I mean, we have
Greta Van Susteren: a staffing problem here in DC or have with the police. I know that the that sort of the defund really sort of deterred people from wanting to be police because they were looked down upon for a while by a segment of our population. So what could help Chicago?
Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith: Well, definitely federal resources could help. And that could be everything from the FBI to the ATF or even Mayor Brandon Johnson talked about this this afternoon at his press conference. There’s task forces, things like that that can really help the police department. But you bring up a good point. Morale is terribly low in most big blue cities, especially in Chicago where they have been demonized and vilified for the last ten years.
And especially for the last five, they have a mental health crisis in the department. They have a higher than national average suicide rate in the Chicago Police Department. And again, when you have a holiday weekend where at least fifty five are shot, seven murdered, we’ve got to do something. And instead, the governor of the state of Illinois spent his press conference time this afternoon vilifying law enforcement and basically asking people to resist, which is going to get cops hurt.
Greta Van Susteren: I I do have the problem in Chicago that we’ve had here in DC, which is DC is the dangerous part when you include the surrounding area. It’s DC that’s dangerous. And the police, they can get their training here in the D. C, but then they can go across the river into Virginia or across the border into Maryland. They’ll get treated a little better.
They expect the jobs are better. It’s a little bit safer. The communities are safer. So, you know, it’s you know, DC is a little it oftentimes loses our police because there’s you know, the pastures are greener someplace else.
Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith: Absolutely. Very often, Chicago police officers, especially young ones, go to the suburbs. The Chicago suburbs are some of the safest communities in this country. The ones that are twenty, thirty miles out of the city. And very often the suburbs pay better.
But I’ll tell you the Chicago Police Department, the men and women of CPD are so incredibly dedicated to that beautiful city that the vast majority of them wanna stay. But they don’t wanna be prosecuted for doing their job. They don’t wanna hear their mayor and some of their other leadership treat them badly and talk about them as though they are the problem. Pritzker and mayor Johnson wanna talk about the guns and how it’s the fault of red states while Chicago police officers are going shooting to shooting to shooting, mopping up the blood and trying desperately to keep their communities safe. And don’t forget Chicago cops have to live in the city.
It’s their city too. They just wanna be cops and do their job.
Greta Van Susteren: And, of course, the safer suburbs is it I mean, you have to have a little money and it’s poor neighbors in poorer neighborhoods in Chicago that people can’t afford to move to those safer spots. So Sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith, thank you for joining me.
Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith: Thanks for having me, Greta.