In difficult year for law enforcement, Attorney General Loretta Lynch praises

During the conference, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch condemned the violence against police Sunday night in Ferguson.

Lynch called the incident a setback in efforts to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve in the aftermath of police-involved deaths of young black men.

About 100 people marched protesting that the Fraternal Order of Police convention in Pittsburgh opened on the one-year anniversary of a police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri – but organizers say the convention was scheduled four years ago.

“As we have seen over the recent months and years, not only does violence obscure any message of peaceful protest, it places the community, as well as the officers who seek to protect it, in harm’s way”, Lynch said during her speech in Pittsburgh. FBI Director James Comey also entered the debate last February with a speech at Georgetown University, when he said the country was at a crossroads on matters of race relations and police and needed to confront “hard truths” on both sides. She praised them for running toward danger when others head in the other direction and for “working to maintain the peace”.

Ms. Lynch spoke after Pittsburgh police Chief Cameron McLay, who drew a standing ovation from the crowd, after he spoke of a need to be willing to toss aside traditions if there are better ways to solve crime and, as he has said many times in the past, to “reduce crime, fear and disorder”.

She acknowledged that the public sometimes makes assumptions about police officers and said that’s why law enforcement needs to speak proudly about the work it does.