PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Dec. 10 (UPI) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said during a speech in New Hampshire Thursday that if he is elected, anyone in the United States convicted of killing a police officer will receive the death penalty.
Trump spoke to a crowd of GOP supporters in Portsmouth Thursday evening.
“One of the first things I’d do in terms of executive order, if I win, will be to sign strong, strong statement that would go out to the country, out to the world,” he said. “Anybody killing policeman police woman, police officer, anybody killing police officer, the death penalty is going to happen.
“We can’t let this go.”
The real estate mogul made the remarks after he received an endorsement from the New England Police Benevolent Association.
“I want to let you know, the police and law enforcement in this country, I will never ever let them down,” Trump added. “The job they do and the job all you in this room do is second to none, and everyone in our country knows that.”
Trump’s remarks come at a time of increased sensitivity in the United States of police officer-involved shootings, which have spurred demonstrations by some against police brutality.
Jerry Flynn, the executive director of the association, applauded Trump for taking such a stance. Earlier this summer, he asked officers to boycott a visit to a Boston Labor Day rally by President Barack Obama.
“The President of the United States has blood on his hands,” Flynn said.
