President Obama Recognizes NYPD Police Officer Killed In The Line Of Duty

President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks at Lehman College in the Bronx borough of New
AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

During President Obama’s visit to New York City, he acknowledged the death of police officer Brian Moore, who was shot on Saturday and passed away in the hospital on Monday.

“As many of you know, New York’s finest lost one of its own today. Officer Brian Moore, who was shot in the line of duty on Saturday night, passed away earlier today,” he said on Monday.

Moore, age 25, was shot in the head after questioning a suspect in Queens.

Obama spoke during a visit to Lehman college, where he launched the “My Brother’s Keeper Alliance” a new non-profit aimed at helping young people in poor communities.

“He came from a family of police officers,” Obama said, referring to Moore. “And the family of fellow officers he joined in the NYPD and across the country deserve our gratitude and our prayers not just today but every day. They’ve got a tough job.”

While Obama recognized the sacrifice made by police officers, he also pointed out the problems in some areas with policing in poverty stricken neighborhoods.

He criticized neighborhoods where police officers were only expected to “contain” people in poor neighborhoods instead of encouraging them, simply because they were “different.”

“In too many places in this country, black boys and black men, Latino boys, Latino men, they experience being treated differently by law enforcement — in stops and in arrests, and in charges and incarcerations,” he said. “The statistics are clear, up and down the criminal justice system; there’s no dispute.”

He was careful to point out, however, that the “overwhelming majority” of police officers are good and honest and fair.

“If we ask the police to simply contain and control problems that we ourselves have been unwilling to invest and solve, that’s not fair to the communities, it’s not fair to the police,” he said.

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