They Wear the Uniform, But Let's Be Honest. They’re Politicians.
One of the reasons Americans are incredulous any time a big-city police chief exhibits massive amounts of wokeness is that the chief is usually standing at a podium in a shiny police uniform with all the flair the office provides. But when they speak, they seem to betray everything we think law enforcement is supposed to stand for.
I give you Exhibit A from Minneapolis: Chief Brian O'Hara. While standing in front of crybaby mayor Jacob Frey, he gives some helpful tips to illegal Somalians should the federal government show up to, you know, send them back home.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara says that Somalians should call 911 if ICE shows up wearing masks to make arrests.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 2, 2025
He says police will "immediately respond" and "intervene."
Interfering with immigration enforcement is a CRIME. pic.twitter.com/yTY0lFg3Sb
Wait, I thought police chiefs were supposed to be all about enforcing the law, not breaking it. What did I miss?
Maybe Bob Day can shed some light on this. He’s the embattled police chief in Portland, Ore. Rather than arrest protestors, he prefers “crowd support,” and if you see his department in action, you have to wonder whose side it's on. His method of policing has left federal ICE agents exposed while violent protestors have attacked them, their vehicles, and their facilities. This has occurred in Day’s city for over 100 consecutive evenings.
And so, when conservative journalists like Nick Sortor swoop into town to document his failures, rather than try to defend his own poor performance, Day attacks Sortor.
🚨 JUST IN: Portland’s woke police chief Bob Day just accused me of coming to Portland “for the views”
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 6, 2025
You’re right, Chief Day. I came here to show MILLIONS AND MILLIONS how corrupt and rotten your police department is.
Thanks for your help with that! pic.twitter.com/sXKl2UXeph
Don’t forget about Chicago. That’s where Jon Hein serves as “Chief of Patrol,” overseeing 22 Chicago Police Department (CPD) districts throughout the city. Hein was promoted to his current position in 2024, but he made news in October of this year when he allegedly ordered CPD officers to withdraw from supporting the federal ICE agents when they were surrounded by a violent crowd as they tried to carry out their own law enforcement duties.
After this, many called for his resignation, including the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the nation’s largest police union.
UH-OH 🚨
— @Chicago1Ray 🇺🇸 (@Chicago1Ray) October 8, 2025
The Fraternal Order of Police (F.O.P) who is the worlds largest org of sworn L.E.O's with (373K) members... issued a " NO CONFIDENCE " vote on Chief of Patrol Jon Hein
Jon Hein violated a code of conduct within law enforcement.. he needs to be relieved of his duty pic.twitter.com/4T8X1PQWzR
Shon Barnes, the new police chief in Seattle, has had a career not unlike that of many who wear the chief’s badge. He bounced around the country as his career advanced, as opposed to working his way up the ranks in the department he now leads. As with the other police chiefs we’ve mentioned so far, he has an issue with the federal government’s new effort to enforce existing immigration law.
Seattle Police Chief announces he will not comply with ICE orders.
— Spitfire (@DogRightGirl) June 11, 2025
Seattle is already a wasteland of Antifa. pic.twitter.com/aDiZS63r9W
If you’re still not convinced that America has a chief-of-police problem, look no further than Pamela Smith, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. Earlier this year, she faced pressure to respond to accusations that the MPD covered up a shooting by a federal agent during a traffic stop.
Some have claimed that Smith’s appointment to her current role was DEI hiring at its worst. She did little to dissuade her critics when she appeared in a press conference after President Donald Trump ordered a federal law enforcement presence to her town. When asked by a reporter about the new “chain of command,” she didn’t even have a clue what the term meant.
How can a police chief NOT know what "Chain of Command" means?
— Joe Dan Gorman (@JoeDanMedia) August 12, 2025
The answer is Democrats
DC this AM..
REPORTER "Do you know what the chain of command is now?"
D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith
“What does that mean?”
Before becoming CHIEF Smith was a
"Chief Equity Officer" 😁 pic.twitter.com/RicAjMELkR
It's time we start to recognize what a big-city police chief is in America in 2025. The chief is a political appointee whose primary job is to enforce the mayor’s political agenda. If the mayor doesn’t care about public safety, today’s police chiefs are all in. To keep their jobs, they must be political. This means their decisions on which laws to enforce and which ones not to enforce are driven by political calculations.
The criteria for hiring today’s police chief, for most mayors, is trust that this person will obey their political directives. Competence does not matter. Adhering to the rule of law is a joke.
For this reason, the rank-and-file officer on the street knows that his or her police chief does not have his or her back when things get hot.
Related: Some Democrats Think They’ve Found Their John McCain. He’ll Lose, Too.
Ironically, if the chief of police position were an elected one, it would be less political in most cities. That’s because the chief would be untied from a mayoral political agenda, and there would be a more general assumption on the part of the voters that public safety is and should be their only priority.
Until then, I have one style recommendation. It’s time these police chiefs put their uniforms in the closet. Since they are politicians, they should look like politicians. Truth in advertising. Wear civilian clothes. Even their detectives already do this.
They’re diminishing both themselves and the uniforms they wear when they stand before cameras and exhibit a double standard on law enforcement while wearing a badge.
Editor's note: PJ Media’s VIP memberships give you the best way to arm yourself with some great arguments if you find yourself in a friendly debate with your leftist coworker or brother-in-law this holiday season. Join the fight! Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member