The Minneapolis police union has come out with a "Cops for Trump" T-shirt, just days after the Police Department banned officers from wearing their uniforms in support of candidates at political events or in ads.
Minneapolis police union selling "Cops for Trump" T-shirts, in wake of uniform ban
Mpls. police say the move was in the works before Trump announced visit.
October 7, 2019 at 7:07PM
Lt. Bob Kroll, head of the officers' union, posted the T-shirt image on his personal Facebook page, saying the shirts will be for sale starting Monday at the union's headquarters for $20 each and will soon be available online.
The shirt has stars and stripes in the shape of Minnesota along with three different law enforcement badges.
Last week, Kroll accused the Police Department of instituting its new policy just before President Donald Trump's visit to Minneapolis. He said he was told about the ban Sept. 27, one day after Trump announced Thursday's rally at Target Center, and after Mayor Jacob Frey's statement that Trump was unwelcome in the city.
"My members are outraged," Kroll said in a televised interview Sept. 29 with Fox News. "A lot of them want to be there; they want to be in the backdrop, have an opportunity to meet him. He's shown that he's a very pro-law enforcement president."
The Police Department denied a political motive, saying the shift had been under consideration since early this year.
Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, said last week that when former President Bill Clinton made a public appearance to lobby for his crime bill in 1994, uniformed officers were part of the setting, with some there "against their will."
Officers also wore uniforms in 2013, when Democratic President Barack Obama came to Minneapolis and spoke to an invitation-only audience about gun violence at the Police Department's Special Operations Center in north Minneapolis.
Mara Klecker • 612-673-4440
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