Miguel Exposito should just go back to his usual routine of not speaking to the media about the shooting of seven black men by his police officers. The embattled Miami Police chief was interviewed by the New York Times about the shootings and a video clip for a proposed reality TV show about his department's special detail unit, S.O.S. He proceeded to insert his foot further into his pie hole. When it comes to handling the media and putting on a professional face, even Clancy Wiggum trumps Exposito.
The Times describes the video, which was first reported by New Times, in which an officer is seen saying, "I like to hunt," and Exposito is quoted stating Miami cops are "like predators." The chief tells Times reporter Don Van Natta Jr. that using the term hunt is no big deal. Here is Exposito's quote:
"Hunting doesn't mean you go kill people," the chief said. "Hunting means you go out there and capture people."The cop-in-charge just doesn't get it. The word hunt is commonly used to describe the capture and/or killing of wild animals for sport. So to associate hunting with fighting crime only helps to perpetuate the disconnect between his police department and the inner-city neighborhoods where all of this "hunting" is going on. And it perpetuates the rationale some cops use to justify seeing criminals as nothing more than animals that need to be caged or, worse, put down.
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