#New York State Troopers union boss endorses Trump for re-election

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Surrounded by members of law enforcement, U.S. President Donald Trump holds up an executive order he signed on “Safe Policing for Safe Communities” during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House
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The head of the union representing 4,000 New York State Police Troopers – a workforce overseen by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo — is backing Republican President Trump’s re-election bid.

“Donald Trump has our back. President Trump has supported us when so many people have turned against us,” NYS Troopers PBA president Thomas Mungeer told the Post on the eve of the Republican National Convention.

“Joe Biden supported cops in the past but he’s turned his back on us,” said Mungeer, referring to the former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee who is taking on Trump in the Nov. 3 general election.

Mungeer’s endorsement of Trump comes just ten days after New York City PBA president Patrick Lynch personally threw his union’s support behind Trump at an event with the president at his Bedminster, N.J. golf club.

The bottom line, Mungeer said, is that Democrats have swung too far to the left on criminal justice issues – leaning in the direction of criminal defendants at the expense of cops and law-abiding citizens.

He said the anti-law enforcement shift started before the protests and violence that erupted following the police brutality death of George Floyd in Minneapolis but has accelerated since then, including within the national Democratic Party. The recent crime spike in New York and other urban areas wasn’t specifically discussed during last week’s Democratic National Convention.

“Biden has taken anti-police stands that pander to his base,” Mungeer said.

He cited one issue in particular that separates Trump from Biden.

Trump supports preserving qualified immunity, the doctrine that shields police officers from being sued civilly for misconduct. Biden has said he wants to reform the immunity doctrine.

“No one is going to want to become a cop if he faces frivolous lawsuits,” Mungeer said.

Mungeer said “we don’t agree with what happened in Minnesota” and “we don’t want bad cops on the force.”

But Mungeer said it’s wrong to exploit one horrible incident and turn it into a broader “anti-police” movement and demonize all cops as abusers.

“We were all grouped together as bad,” he said.

He claimed actions taken by New York Democratic lawmakers have hindered or slighted law enforcement — particularly citing New York’s bail reform law that took effect earlier this year. He also noted the Cuomo-appointed Parole Board is releasing more convicted murderers – including cop killers.

“My members have been seriously handcuffed from doing their jobs,” Mungeeer said.

“It is the people who are going to suffer. The people who need us the most. The silent majority supports law enforcement but they’ve been silent for too long,” he said.

Mungeer has been critical of how Democratic leaders in Albany and City Hall have handled criminal justice issues.

He said he has maintained a “decent rapport” with Cuomo over contractual issues. Still, he sent a letter to the governor in June complaining that Cuomo offered “zero support” by not addressing attacks directed at troopers during the early protests following Floyd’s death.

The Police Benevolent Association of NYS Troopers also sued New York City for approving a controversial new law that criminalizes cops kneeling on a suspect’s back. Mungeer previously called for the 200 State Police Officers assigned to city detail to be pulled out, after calling the local law a “ill-conceived, knee-jerk reaction by lawmakers.”