Charles Ramsey, one of the co-chairs of President Obama’s task force in community policing and former Philadelphia police commissioner, told NBC’s Chuck Todd he doesn’t think the upcoming Republican and Democratic national conventions are going to occur “without some incident taking place.”
“It's unfortunate, but that's what I personally think. I hope that's not the case. But you've got too many people that are now with this extreme rhetoric, and that is just not good for anybody,” Ramsey said. The GOP convention begins on July 18 in Cleveland. The following week, the Democrats will kick off their convention in Philadelphia.
When it comes to the “volatile time we’re in right now,” Ramsey also stated his belief that thoughtful people need to “sit down and engage in dialogue” in order to come up with the solutions to the problems that our country currently faces.
Ramsey was appointed to the presidential task force on 21st century policing in the wake of tragedy and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. The former commissioner said that there has “absolutely” been progress made because of the task force but that stumbling blocks along the way should be expected.
Specifically, he mentioned that he believes that there are too many police departments in the United States, which contributes to the various levels of policies, procedures and training throughout the country. "In your larger cities, where you have a lot of diversity, obviously you have officers that are very accustomed to dealing with a variety of people. We still have parts in our country where that's not the case. We need to bring people together, but we need more consistency in terms of the training that's provided, the selection and hiring of individuals," Ramsey said.