After Trump 'don't be too nice' quip, Long Island police dept. speaks up

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Saturday, July 29, 2017
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BRENTWOOD, Suffolk County -- President Donald Trump's remark that police shouldn't be 'too nice' to prisoners was made in a suburban New York county where a chief went to prison for beating a suspect.

And now the police department is explaining it won't tolerate brutality toward prisoners.

Addressing a law enforcement audience Friday in Long Island's Suffolk County, Trump spoke dismissively of officers who protect the heads of handcuffed suspects while putting them in patrol cars.

Former Suffolk County police chief James Burke pleaded guilty last year to beating a handcuffed man being interrogated about the theft of sex toys and other personal items from Burke's SUV.

Hours after Trump's speech, the Suffolk County Police Department issued a statement saying it "will not tolerate roughing up of prisoners" and violations are taken "extremely seriously."