Months after endorsing now-President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, the Fraternal Order of Police issued a joint statement indicating it was "deeply discouraged" by recent pardons and commutations made by Trump and now-former President Joe Biden.
In a joint statement with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the organizations said that individuals convicted of killing or assaulting police officers "should serve their full sentences."
The statement came one day after President Trump issued nearly 1,500 pardons for those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
As of earlier this month, the Department of Justice had successfully prosecuted over 1,500 individual cases involving the Jan. 6 insurrection. Among them, there were 172 who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement; 130 who pleaded guilty to obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder; and 69 who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous or deadly weapon.
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President Trump referred to those sentenced to crimes relating to the Jan. 6 insurrection as "hostages." He has indicated that he believes the convictions were politically motivated.
According to the Biden administration's Department of Justice, 140 police officers were assaulted — including over 80 from the U.S. Capitol Police and over 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department.
"Crimes against law enforcement are not just attacks on individuals or public safety — they are attacks on society and undermine the rule of law. Allowing those convicted of these crimes to be released early diminishes accountability and devalues the sacrifices made by courageous law enforcement officers and their families," the police organizations said in a joint statement. "When perpetrators of crimes, especially serious crimes, are not held fully accountable, it sends a dangerous message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not severe, potentially emboldening others to commit similar acts of violence."
In September, the Fraternal Order of Police officially endorsed Trump for the third consecutive presidential election.
“Public safety and border security will be important issues in the last months of this campaign,” National President of the Fraternal Order of Police Patrick Yoes said in September. “Our members carefully considered the positions of the candidates on the issues and there was no doubt—zero doubt—as to who they want as our President for the next four years: Donald J. Trump.”
The International Association of Chiefs of Police is a nonprofit organization barred from issuing political endorsements.
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According to the Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney, "A pardon is an expression of the President’s forgiveness and ordinarily is granted in recognition of the applicant’s acceptance of responsibility for the crime and established good conduct for a significant period of time after conviction or completion of sentence." Whereas "a commutation of sentence reduces a sentence, either totally or partially, that is then being served, but it does not change the fact of conviction, imply innocence, or remove civil disabilities that apply to the convicted person as a result of the criminal conviction."
In December 2024, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal prisoners on death row. Among them was Daryl Lawrence who was convicted of killing a police officer during a bank robbery, and Anthony George Battle, who was convicted of killing a prison guard.
The 37 formerly death row inmates had their sentences commuted to life in prison.
