The pair of Democrats running in their respective Georgia Senate runoff elections have elicited “serious concern” from top state law enforcement officials, who say both Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have made anti-police comments that show their intent to defund the departments and impede the ability of officers to serve, The Washington Free Beacon reported on Wednesday.
Georgia Fraternal Order of Police secretary Steven Gaynor said "we have a serious concern over the defunding push and the statements being made from both candidates."
Such comments include Ossoff expressing over the summer the need to hold "entire departments accountable," arguing that police funding "has to be … on the line" if officers don't follow his proposed use-of-force rules.
Several years ago Warnock accused police of operating with a "gangster and thug" mentality.
Even though Democrats have tried to distance themselves from such statements following disappointing congressional results for the party in last month’s elections, many Georgia law enforcement officials haven't been convinced by the rhetorical shift.
"The safety of this entire country is at stake," Gwinnett County sheriff Butch Conway said. "All we've heard for months from the Democratic Party is ‘defund the police.' I understand Joe Biden's talking the other way now, not wanting to talk about defunding the police until after this election, but that doesn't change anything."
Ossoff did not return a request for comment, while Warnock campaign spokesman Terrence Clark insisted to the Free Beacon that Warnock doesn't back defunding police and accused his Republican opponent, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of telling "lies to distract from her record."
The state's Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed both Loeffler and David Perdue, Ossoff’s opponent, while the Democrat candidates have no endorsements from state police officials.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.