Thread by @asanderford

#Omaha’s @jeanformayor is picking up the expected endorsement today of the @omahaPOA, the union that represents the city’s 800-plus police officers.

The news is the timing. The endorsement comes before the April 6 city primary, which is being contested by a number of candidates.

The union’s leader, Sgt. Anthony Conner, confirms that the union stayed neutral in 2017’s race between Stothert and Democrat Heath Mello.

They endorsed former Mayor Jim Suttle in 2013. Police unions nationally have started floating toward Republicans on the top of the ticket.

Typically, the two biggest union endorsements in city elections are the unions that represent Omaha police officers and firefighters. Stothert has clashed with both unions at times, often about retirement costs. But she’s grown the OPD, adding officers and a fifth police precinct

Many people seeking police reform criticized the mayor this summer for cozying up to police during and after the Black Lives Matter protesters who took to the streets nationally after the in-custody death of George Floyd and the separate shooting death of James Scurlock.

Conner: The endorsement of Stothert was unanimous. Our relationship with the mayor should be a model for the country.

Stothert: You are standing here today, standing up for the work that you do and those that you serve and I greatly appreciate that. "Public safety is my most important responsibility. The progress we have made together has been remarkable."

Stothert: "Together, we are making Omaha a safer city." We have set a goal of adding 100 officers. We now have more officers on the job than ever before. The OPD clearance rate is among the best in the country. Our 911 response times are improving.

Stothert: Our police-involved shootings are among the lowest in the country. I won't accept contributions from city unions. I just don't think it's right for me to accept donations from people whose contracts I have to sign off on.

Stothert: "Any effort in Omaha to defund the police department will not succeed. Not on my watch."

Stothert: (She made the statement that some who are running want to pursue moving funding from police to other social services. Those folks say they want to do so to prevent the need for calling police.)

Conner: Our mayor stood strong with us. She didn't cut the budget. She's going to hire more officers. We're proud to stand with her because she stands with us.

Conner: Last year was such a unique year for law enforcement. This was the first year we had those kinds of attacks. "I feel she stood with us four years ago, but obviously the dynamics have changed (when it comes to attacks on law enforcement)."

Conner: We'll provide her our name and our support. Rank and file police officers voted to support her. It's important to the public. In our city, the police department, the work that we do is respected.

Conner: We didn't talk to every other candidate. I know we interviewed at least one other candidate. I don't know who it was because I was sick. Sometimes decisions are a little easier. "This is us rewarding loyalty."

Conner: The other candidate was RJ Neary.

Stothert: I don't pay much attention to what my opponents are doing. I'm told one of them wants to replace police with social workers. I'm not sure. I'm just told those things.

Stothert: Trust is earned. A lot of people, a lot of unions, a lot of groups that did not support us. My job once elected was to show the people, including those who didn't elect me, why I can do the job. (paraphrase)

Stothert: We built another police precinct. That's something we've been talking about for decades. We added 100 more police officers. That was tremendously costly and difficult to do, but we needed to do it. "With us working together, we have made Omaha a safer city."

Stothert: We came out and talked about it publicly. A lot of reforms we talked about immediately, and we have done those things. The Omaha Police Department is very unique in being accredited.

Stothert: They go through our policies, procedures and uses of force to make sure we're doing the right things. We don't even teach chokeholds. We don't do it. A lot of the things they were saying we should do, we were already doing it.

Stothert: I would love to have the endorsement of the fire union. The fire department, we've had some really tough labor negotiations. We had to do some things, like pensions. If you look at what I've done for the fire department and fire union, my goodness.

(Stothert did not name the specific changes. I'll try and get more from our clips about them for print.)

Conner: I think it's important to remember what we said here today. We're endorsing the mayor because she stood with us. The decision was real simple.

Stothert: When everybody was talking about defund the police, there were probably 12-15 interruptions yelling defund the police. I fund the police department ... with the amount they need to run the department as efficiently as we can. Every year we've increased their budget.

Stothert: I am confident that the majority of citizens in Omaha support our police department. I'm already walking door-to-door. The No. 1 comment I've heard is mayor keep supporting our police department. Those that are crying out to defund, those are the vocal minority.

Conner: A lot of times when you hear about cutting the budget and taking funds to somewhere else, it's unproven. Certainly we're not going to share our political strategy today. Keep in mind, when people say defund the police, some of the ways to get there are unproven.

Stothert: You'd have to have those programs in place and prove they work before I'd ever reduce police officers.

Stothert: We are at the number we need to be now. That could change. Every year we annex, that number could change. These are things we have planned very carefully, very strategically, and we've funded it the way it needed to be funded.

OK. We are done. Story to come on @owhnews.

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