Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani says he always let police and firefighters know he would back them up if they got involved in a controversial situation, but he said that isn't happening today.
"I think we've got the opposite going on now in a lot of places, which is they've got the back of their police officers, but it's a stab in the back," Giuliani said Monday on
Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto."
The former mayor was discussing the recent events involving police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City, and Baltimore, as well as the two police officers fatally shot in Mississippi over the weekend.
"They lost their lives because they were out there on the streets trying to protect you and me," Giuliani said. "There's something very, very special about that, and when they lose their lives, there's a real attack on civilization and law and decency."
Giuliani said he was pleased that current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has moderated his tone on police officers since late last year, after the Eric Garner arrest that resulted in his death.
Still, Giuliani said, bad officers should be fired or prosecuted, and he said he did so during his years as a federal prosecutor.
He said it is too early to judge the Baltimore officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, but said they should not be found guilty only for fear of averting riots.
If he were mayor of Baltimore, there wouldn't be a riot, he said, because he would have too many police officers on the street for it to happen.
"The minute you threw a rock you'd be arrested," he said.
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