Over the past several days, Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough has railed against those in the media and in public office who have distorted the facts in the shooting death of Michael Brown to push their own agenda . On Wednesday morning Scarborough took his criticism to new levels.
During a discussion about police tactics throughout the country, Scarborough argued that a “cop is not out on the street going you know what I'm going today, I'm going to move our society forward...It is not to make a statement that makes primetime people on MSNBC feel better about America.”
Scarborough’s comments came in response to Mika Brzezinski insisting that “if you are talking about policing, they should both be stopped and frisked. And it should not be based on the data it should be based on moving our society forward and treating whites and blacks equally.”
After dismissing Mika’s argument, Scarborough continued to criticize liberals who want to lecture police on how to keep their communities safe:
It’s about protecting black people in the neighborhood, Hispanics in the neighborhood, white people in the neighborhood. A cop on the street does not sit back and they cannot sit up in their tower and be philosopher kings. They're trying to stop the next crime. They’re trying to stop the next rape. They're trying to stop the next robbery. This conversation started being talked about data. Let's have a real conversation and stop suggesting that white cops want to shake down black guys because they're black.
As the segment turned to New York’s stop-and-frisk policy, the MSNBC host once again scolded those who criticize police for targeting high-crime areas that happen to have large minority communities:
But as protesters go out, and people suggest white cops just want to shoot black young youth in the back, it's important to look at what is driving–and you brought up black police officers, Hispanic police officers, when they're out, they're not talking about moving society forward, their job is to keep neighborhoods safe.
Despite Scarborough’s repeated attempts to discredit critics of the police, Mika doubled-down on her assertion that cops need focus their efforts on moving society forward rather than just fighting crime:
But they're leaders in the community and the only point I was making is if you focus only on the data and you don't treat people equally in the community, you are fomenting anger. If your job is to protect the community, you cannot be a part of the problem... You can frisk the white guy too.
Scarborough concluded his take-down by calling out liberals one final time for wanting policing to make them feel good rather than actually fight crime:
Can I just say, Mika, I don't want cops to go up and stop and frisk you. It's a waste of time and it's a waste of money. I don't give-a-damn if that makes somebody on TV feel better that they're stopping and frisking you. I want cops to keep blacks and Hispanics and whites in high crime neighborhoods safe. I don't care how that makes you feel in your liberal household in Westchester County.
--
I want black families and Hispanic families and white families in the South Bronx, in parts of Brooklyn, and in Ferguson, I want them safe. I don't want their houses burned to the ground. I don't want their businesses burned to the ground and I, frankly, don't give a damn whether you feel good about how they do it or not.
HT: Mediaite
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
December 3, 2014
DORIAN WARREN: Based on the data, there’s neighborhoods, there is place and then there is profiling and the rest of the city. So when I get stopped at the Rockefeller Center subway stop. That's not the Bronx.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: That's not the question I’m asking you though. I'm asking in the South Bronx. Because we're talking Ferguson here, we’re not talking about the best part of St. Louis or downtown St. Louis, so if are you if Ferguson, and a lot of people don't realize, it's a crime-ridden neighborhood where this happened. Who are you looking at? And again, I don't want to get distracted. I want to stick to data.
You know, because Mike Bloomberg said something in the New Yorker I think, or New York Magazine that offended a lot of people. And he said, look at the hard numbers, and these are the two areas where we have an overwhelming majority of crime in New York City and these are the people demographically based on data that are most likely to commit violent crimes and that's where we focus our policing on.
WARREN: And there is a flaw in that statement.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Exactly.
SCARBOROUGH: What is the flaw?
WARREN: Because, if the stop and frisks were only located in the South Bronx or in those neighborhoods, I would believe that. But they're not.
SCARBOROUGH: You keep talking stop and frisk. I'm talking policing in general.
BRZEZINSKI: If you are talking about policing, they should both be stopped and frisked. And it should not be based on the data it should be based on moving our society forward and treating whites and blacks equally.
SCARBOROUGH: No, no no. But a cop is not out on the street going you know what I'm going today, I'm going to move our society forward.
BRZEZINSKI: Actually, actually.
SCARBOROUGH: A cop on the street, Mika, has one job. And the job is to protect the people in that neighborhood. It is not to make a statement that makes primetime people on MSNBC feel better about America.
BRZEZINSKI: No, I'm not worried about them.
SCARBOROUGH: It’s about protecting black people in the neighborhood, Hispanics in the neighborhood, white people in the neighborhood. A cop on the street does not sit back and they cannot sit up in their tower and be philosopher kings. They're trying to stop the next crime. They’re trying to stop the next rape. They're trying to stop the next robbery. This conversation started being talked about data. Let's have a real conversation and stop suggesting that white cops want to shake down black guys because they're black. A lot of it is based on data. If you are talking about data on why are they policing?
Let's have a real conversation about race. Let have a real conversation about policing. But if you are talking about data, that's what cops will tell you. We're just looking at data. This has nothing to do with black or white. If white guys were responsible for 98% of the crime in this neighborhood or 47% of the crime in the neighborhood, we would adjust our policing based on those models. I’ll shut up now and let everybody else talk Let’s have a real conversation about race and policing. Go.
WARREN: I wish that police departments would adjust their policing based on the data. And actually, that is one of the problems that we should be talking about in this discussion.
SCARBOROUGH: How are they not?
WARREN: Most, look, most police departments don't even report data to the national FBI crime statistics. We don't even know how many--
SCARBOROUGH: Is it not the case that the overwhelming amount. Is Michael Bloomberg wrong when he said based on all the data, the majority of crimes are committed by young black males ages, I don't know what he said, 18 to 27 in two neighborhoods and, you know, he said, the South Bronx and a part of Brooklyn. Like is that not the case?
WARREN: In terms of high crime neighborhoods in the city, yes. But that doesn't mean--
SCARBOROUGH: I'm talking crime in general Dorian. Quit changing the subject. You said high crime.
WARREN: I just said high crime.
SCARBOROUGH: Just crime in general in New York.
WARREN: Yes, Joe, I'm talking about crime. But when you focus on two neighborhoods but have a citywide policy of policing, that is not about those neighborhoods.
SCARBOROUGH: You are going back to stop and frisk now. I'm going to Ferguson and high crime neighborhoods, and the logic. It’s kind of like why do TSA officers feel like they have to frisk 8-year-old or 9-year-old kids? It's stupid, right? So they're looking at who is most-likely, they should be looking at who is most likely to take --
WARREN: I’ll give you an example from New York City’s own data. The use of marijuana among white teens and black teens is roughly equal. But the arrest rates for marijuana possession and usage are disproportionately black and Latino teens. So that's crime. But there is something going on and let's talk about that. What is going on. The crime rate of that crime is the same.
SCARBOROUGH: I know Dorian. I talk to you about that on this show all the time. So I don't want anybody to misunderstand me. Apparently, everybody is. I'm just saying, though, as we try to vilify cops in this country as we have over the past week, I'm not talking about you. But as protesters go out, and people suggest white cops just want to shoot black young youth in the back, it's important to look at what is driving–and you brought up black police officers, Hispanic police officers, when they're out, they're not talking about moving society forward, their job is to keep neighborhoods safe.
BRZEZINSKI: But they're leaders in the community and the only point I was making is if you focus only on the data and you don't treat people equally in the community, you are fomenting anger. If your job is to protect the community, you cannot be a part of the problem.
SCARBOROUGH: You have to have community policing. At the same time you have limited resources. So if a cop--
BRZEZINSKI: You can frisk the white guy too.
SCARBOROUGH: Okay. Can I just say, Mika, I don't want cops to go up and stop and frisk you. It's a waste of time and it's a waste of money. I don't give-a-damn if that makes somebody on TV feel better that they're stopping and frisking you. I want cops to keep blacks and Hispanics and whites in high crime neighborhoods safe. I don't care how that makes you feel in your liberal household in Westchester County.
I want black families and Hispanic families and white families in the South Bronx, in parts of Brooklyn, and in Ferguson, I want them safe. I don't want their houses burned to the ground. I don't want their businesses burned to the ground and I, frankly, don't give a damn whether you feel good about how they do it or not. I want these people safe in their homes. I want grandmothers safe in their homes. I want children safe as they're walking to school. And you know what, the bloggers can write what the bloggers want to write about. We have limited resources, cops have limited resources, they have a hell of a tough job. Sometimes they screw up. But how people feel about it doesn't matter unless it's people in that community.
