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A Virginia police association said even the alleged remarks by attorney general hopeful Jay Jones crossed an unforgivable line, calling them “profoundly reckless” and “an affront to fallen officers.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Virginia State Police Association (VSPA) President Tim Confroy said the organization was “deeply disturbed” by the reported 2020 comment, which Jones has denied making.
Jones once allegedly suggested that if more police officers were killed, they would shoot fewer people, a former colleague in the state legislature said. Republican Del. Carrie Coyner told Virginia Scope on Monday that during a 2020 conversation about qualified immunity, she told Jones that without the legal protection, police officers would get killed.
“Well, maybe if a few of them died, that they would move on, not shooting people, not killing people,” Jones responded, according to Coyner.
“There is no place for rhetoric that fuels hostility,” Confroy said. “If true, these words are profoundly reckless. The words dishonor every man and woman who has sworn to protect and serve the Commonwealth and undermine the foundation of mutual respect and public trust that effective law enforcement and officer safety depend upon.”
The words dishonor every man and woman who has sworn to protect and serve the Commonwealth
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The association noted that 67 Virginia state troopers have died in the line of duty, saying Jones’s reported statement was “unconscionable” and “an affront to the memory of those whom we have lost.”
“There is no place for rhetoric that fuels hostility,” Confroy said.
He said that law enforcement officers, especially amid the current political climate toward law enforcement, need their elected officials to promote “meaningful advocacy that recognizes the inherent risk of public service.”
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Violent text scandal
The rebuke comes as Jones faces growing bipartisan backlash following the release of his private text messages in which he appeared to fantasize about violence toward political opponents.
The embattled attorney general hopeful allegedly sent text messages suggesting he would shoot then–House Speaker Todd Gilbert “over Adolf Hitler.”
In those messages, he also wrote that Gilbert and his wife should have to watch their “fascist” children die. At one point, Jones wrote, “Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler, and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.”
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Political fallout
Prominent Democrats and Republicans have called Jones’ comments disqualifying for someone seeking to become Virginia’s top cop.
Along with the VSPA, the Virginia Fraternal Order of Police sent a letter to Jones, asking him to bow out of the attorney general race immediately, while also condemning his 2022 text messages.
“The Virginia Fraternal Order of Police is aware of the recent text message scandal involving you, the Democrat candidate for Attorney General. While this incident may have occurred in 2022, this conduct has no place in our society or democracy, especially from an elected official who is running to be the top prosecutor in Virginia,” the FOP wrote. “The men and women of the Virginia Fraternal Order unequivocally condemn these violent text messages sent by you about a political opponent and his family.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Jones for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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