Detroit Police Chief Takes Aim at Rashida Tlaib’s ‘Reckless and Disgusting’ Anti-Cop Rhetoric: She ‘Doesn’t Speak for the Majority of Detroiters’

Detroit Police Chief James Craig took aim at his city’s representative in Congress, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), for what he called her “disgusting” comment that policing was “inherently and intentionally racist.”

Calling her remarks “reckless and disgusting,” Craig said in a Monday morning CNN interview, “The anti-police rhetoric is just too much.”

“This is about her putting attention to herself,” Craig said. “That’s exactly what it’s designed to do. It’s not productive. She doesn’t speak for the majority of Detroiters. The majority of Detroiters support this police department. They want effective and constitutional policing, and to make statements like ‘Abolish policing,’ ‘Abolish incarceration,’ certainly is counterproductive.”

Tlaib made the remarks on Twitter last week after the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Minnesota man killed during a traffic stop. “Daunte Wright was met with aggression and violence,” Tlaib wrote. “I am done with those who condone government funded murder. No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed.”

She later issued a statement expanding on the remarks. “We continue to see death after death at the hands of police officers with no meaningful accountability,” Tlaib said in the statement. “We should be investing more resource to tackle poverty, education, and equities and increase job opportunities. We should be expanding mental health and social work professionals to respond to disputes before they escalate.”

Craig said the clarification was “spot-on,” adding, “We don’t disagree with, you know increasing support for mental health … we have a massive mental health issue in our country today, in large part fueled by the pandemic. We get it. We understand it. What she is doing now is pedaling back because she got so much pushback on her reckless comments. So it doesn’t surprise me, she is now trying to take a softer approach.”

He also made a passing reference to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who said Black Lives Matter protesters should become “more confrontational.”

“What does that mean?” Craig said.

Watch above via CNN.