The Gainesville Police Department found itself in the spotlight after issuing a message via social media condemning remarks made by President Donald Trump that were characterized as condoning police brutality.
The rebuke was contained in a tweet posted on the department's official account Friday evening. It came after the account shared a tweet by department spokesman Officer Ben Tobias admonishing those who applauded the remarks.
The president's remarks came as he vowed to crack down on the violent street gang MS-13 during a speech before law enforcement officers at Suffolk County Community College in Long Island, N.Y., The Washington Post reported. The newspaper noted he pivoted at one point to discussing how police treat those under arrest.
“When you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over?” Trump said, according to the Post. "Like, don't hit their head, and they just killed somebody -- don't hit their head."
“I said, you can take the hand away, OK?” the president added, a comment that was reportedly met with some applause.
In a tweet, the Gainesville department criticized those comments, stating the remarks "endorsed and condoned police brutality." That tweet, which was shared more than 20,000 times, joined a chorus of statements from law enforcement that reportedly surfaced in response to the speech.
A post on the department's Facebook page elaborated by saying the president "has no business" green-lighting rough treatment of arrestees and "suggesting that we should slam their heads onto the car while putting them in." It went on to say the remarks "set modern policing back."
Tobias, who also wrote a full blog post about the comments, said that after he made his personal posts, he talked to the chief about posting on the department’s pages. Not only did the chief give him the OK, he also said he supported him 100 percent.
“We're given two great powers as police officers,” Tobias said. “We're given the power to take someone's freedom away by our power of arrest and we're given the power to take someone's life away in a life or death situation.”
Tobias said the officers in his department take those duties very seriously. He said his officers, along with thousands of other police departments across the nation, continue to work to build relationships between the public and police.
He said Trump hurt those efforts with his comments Friday.
“He didn't make advances for law enforcement and public relationship,” Tobias said. “He actually took away from it, took away from some of the things we've been working for a very long time on repairing.”
Tobias' lengthy blog post discussed his reasons behind the social media posts condemning Trump.
“I know some others may not agree with what I've done, but I'm charged with being the voice of the Gainesville police department, and I know our community, and I know what our community needs to hear, so I wanted to make sure our community knew that their local police department was nothing but professional,” Tobias said.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Suffolk County, N.Y., Police Department were among the organizations that issued statements that appeared to put distance between themselves and the remarks, The Hill reported.
"Law enforcement officers are trained to treat all individuals, whether they are a complainant, suspect, or defendant, with dignity and respect. This is the bedrock principle behind the concepts of procedural justice and police legitimacy," the police chiefs association's statement said in part.