Former PA governor Ed Rendell claimed this morning on “Morning Joe” that the government of Ferguson, Missouri could have been more adequately prepared to deal with the chaos that has ensued since Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed by a white police officer.
The former governor, who also previously served as mayor of Philadelphia, referenced a system in place in Philadelphia that he believes would have been helpful in Ferguson.
“In Philadelphia, we have something called a civil affairs unit,” he said. “The civil affairs people go out into the community. They often bring the police clergy with them. We have 78 clergy members who signed up to help the police and they preach at the very beginning, they preach restraint and they say peaceful demonstrations and they say let’s work this out together.”
“Obviously, nothing was in place in Ferguson,” Rendell concluded. “They had no protocols for dealing with this. So they are playing catch-up.”
Though he perhaps did not intend to insult lawmakers in Missouri, his last few words caused backlash from MO Senator Claire McCaskill, who spoke on the show via satellite later in the show and insisted that the hands-on work with the community that Rendell claims is missing is actually just being ignored by the media.
“I have an opportunity now to say that Ed Rendell is wrong, and I don’t get that opportunity often enough,” she said. “Ed Rendell is wrong about one thing. I was in church in Ferguson on Sunday and every church in Ferguson was packed. There wasn’t a lot of cameras at all these different churches…We’ve got everybody engaged on the ground trying to reach out to young people. I’m meeting with a group of young people again tomorrow. There is all kinds of things going on on the ground and it is not getting the coverage it deserves.”
This argument between Rendell and McCaskill is also a bit ironic when you consider that the tactics employed by the Ferguson police forces are believed to be descended from the strategies of former Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney.
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7 Responses
That’s right, the cops “took care of a theif who had weed in him”, G. Zimmerman took care of a trespasser, the other guy in FLA took care of loud music in an SUV, another guy took care of a young woman on his porch and St, Louis police took care of a young man acting “erratically”. Looks like the frustration level is boiling over. Just a few more guns and then everyone can defend themselves??
cops aint do nuything wrong they took care of a theif who had weed in him
Easy for Rendell to monday morning qb. Facts haven’t come out, this is ObamAmerica, blame the cops for everything but who are you gonna turn too as the march to chaos in our country continues?
I don’t doubt the police officer will be indicted eventually. However, due process requires time. American justice moves at a snail’s pace, as is evident in the fact that the Boston bomber’s trial hasn’t started yet after more than a year.
Just to clarify the facts, the Police Officer didn’t know about the “robbery” at the time of the shooting – that’s been fully established by all parties. Secondly, the store owner didn’t report a robbery, and the un-edited version of the video shows the person suspected to be Mike Brown paying, further he didn’t push the owner til the owner touched him. Now, aside from the facts are the principles – are police officers now judge, jury, and executioner now? And does petty theft come with a death penalty now?
there aint no reason for the cop to go to jale. he only done his job. the kid who robed the store should go to jale for robbing the store of cigretes and pushing the owner,
The protests are about a history of racial abuse in Ferguson. It’s more than about just this one incident.
But, the strength of the current protest is about the cop who shot the kid not being arrested, considering the autopsy results and witness accounts. There is more than enough probable cause to arrest the officer.