During a conversation with Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd conceded that, like police, journalists will protect each other from criticism no matter what.
Discussing newly released police body camera video which showed a University of Cincinnati cop shooting an unarmed African American man, Todd wondered if this was “a culture issue, cops protecting cops?”
The Meet the Press moderator reacted to the Cincinnati police defending their colleague despite video evidence disputing their story as an example of the police “taking the University of Cincinnati police officer's side of the story, sort of the initial was protect him first rather than protect the truth.”
While Ramsey agreed with Todd’s assessment of the situation, he insisted that “cops protecting cops” would take place in any industry, including journalism:
Well, that's part of it. Name a profession where you don't have that sort of thing? How often do doctors turn in other doctors for malpractice? Lawyers that turn in other lawyers. Journalists that turn in other journalists that, perhaps, aren't doing the proper research on a particular story.
Surprisingly, Todd actually agreed that all professions, including journalists, protect their own no matter what, but the NBCer could only manage a “touche” in response. Ramsey went on to give a detailed explanation of why police defending each other regardless of the truth is much more problematic than journalists engaging in the same activity:
We do need to be able to deal with that sort of thing, but that is part of a culture that exists in most professions. The difference is we can't afford to have that sort of thing in policing. The role we play in a democratic society is just too important.
See relevant transcript below.
NBC’s Meet the Press
August 2, 2015
CHUCK TODD: Well, let me ask you a blunt question. I know diversifying police departments are very important. A young African-American man or woman seeing everything they've seen about police departments over the last year, why would want to become one?
CHARLES RAMSEY: That's a good question and it makes it very tough. I joined the Chicago police department in the late 1960s, a very similar environment. You had Vietnam, the civil rights movement, images of what was taking place in the south, police and protesters. And it was something that I had to consider when I decided to come into law enforcement. And lost a few friends along the way as a result of that decision. We can overcome it, but we do have to change the image. And right now the image of police in America is not that positive.
TODD: Is there a way to change the image beyond just time? Do you -- is there something you can do sooner than that to at least spark a change in the image?
RAMSEY: Well, one, we have to make sure that we really do hold officers accountable. The majority of our police officers, and there's almost 500,000 in this country that have thousands and thousands of interactions on a daily basis, you don't hear about it because they're not bad interactions.
We need to do a better job of the positive things that are going on, but those officers that do act outside of policy, outside the law, there has to be consequences, very swift and certain consequences and rid our ranks of those people, and then begin to really focus. In fact, we need to focus even during that time on getting people in our ranks. You know, people stay in this business 20, 30 years, so who we hire today is going to be with us for decades to come.
TODD: Is this a culture issue, cops protecting cops? I mean, you just see we had two police officers that were sort of taking the University of Cincinnati police officer's side of the story, sort of the initial was protect him first rather than protect the truth.
RAMSEY: Well, that's part of it. Name a profession where you don't have that sort of thing? How often do doctors turn in other doctors for malpractice? Lawyers that turn in other lawyers. Journalists that turn in other journalists that, perhaps, aren't doing the proper research on a particular story.
TODD: Touche.
RAMSEY: We do need to be able to deal with that sort of thing, but that is part of a culture that exists in most professions. The difference is we can't afford to have that sort of thing in policing. The role we play in a democratic society is just too important.
