South Bend police warn of 'mass exodus' under Mayor Pete Buttigieg
The South Bend Fraternal Order of Police says morale has tanked over the 2020 hopeful's handling of an officer-involved shooting.
The president of a South Bend, Indiana, chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police called out Mayor Pete Buttigieg for low morale among officers after some warned of a "mass exodus" in a new Fox News report.
South Bend Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) President Harvey Mills said on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday that he places the blame on Buttigieg, who took heavy criticism after an officer-involved shooting.
“Morale around here has been terrible. We do nothing," a 20-year veteran of the force told Fox News.
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“We call ourselves firemen, we sit around in parking lots until we’re called and then we go to the call, because if you say or do something wrong, then you get hung.”
Buttigieg's campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News. Another of the officers, all of whom requested not to be identified in fear of retaliation by the mayor's administration, predicted a "mass exodus" of police officers from the force.
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Mills said Sgt. Ryan O'Neill has resigned as a result of stress after he shot a black, knife-wielding suspect named Eric Logan. Mills said he believes all available evidence shows O'Neill's actions were justified.
According to investigators, O’Neill was called to a report of someone breaking into cars and encountered Logan, who was allegedly carrying a knife. According to authorities, O'Neill shot Logan after he approached him with the knife and ignored repeated demands to drop it, the South Bend Tribune reported.
But O’Neill’s body camera was not on to confirm his account, and skeptics of the department's account have blasted city officials, fueling a firestorm that repeatedly has pulled Buttigieg off the presidential campaign trail to deal with the crisis back home.
Mills was asked by host Ainsley Earhardt whether Buttigieg is to blame for the low morale among officers.
"I think a lot of it is the city administration, yeah," he responded, adding Buttigieg has failed to attend an annual memorial service for local officers killed in the line of duty.
"I don't recall a single one that he's attended. We've had senators, congresspeople and local officials from elsewhere, but I've not seen him at one of our memorial services and that's demoralizing."
Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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