Detroit Police Chief Chides NFL For Denying Cowboys' Request To Wear Patches Honoring Fallen Officers
DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit Police Chief James Craig is calling out the NFL over its decision not to let the Cowboys wear decals honoring officers killed in the sniper-style massacre in Dallas in July.
"I'm troubled; and I'll tell you why I'm troubled," Craig said, during a 9/11 memorial event held at Campus Martius Park Friday.
"Certainly when you look at what happened in Dallas just a couple of months ago — the largest attack on any police department since 9/11 — Dallas police officers gave their lives to save so many others," he said, "and so the Dallas Cowboys, a football organization, wanted to do something grand by acknowledging the heroic efforts of those fallen officers...and I learned that the NFL said no."
CBS Sports reports when training camp opened in Oxnard, Calif., earlier this off-season, the Cowboys unveiled "Arm in Arm" helmet decals, designed to pay tribute to the men who lost their lives during the downtown Dallas shootings — while also symbolically representing the Cowboys support of the community.
But the NFL said the decals would have to come off for the regular season, as the rules state all players must be in uniform with the league and the other 31 teams.
Craig said he doesn't understand how the NFL count deny the request considering all that cops do for the league.
"You know, when you look at American police officers across this country, they're protecting our athletes, they're protecting the facilities that they play in," the chief said. "And we don't want to allow America's football team, as it's often times called, to...acknowledge fallen officers who gave their lives to save others? I'm troubled by that."
Crag said that after the 9/11 attacks, police officers were viewed as American heroes.
"And now we look some 15 years later and we ask ourselves, what has happened?"
It's the NFL's position, basically, that if these special decals are allowed it will open a "Pandora's Box" — with players and teams making all kinds of uniform requests for various causes.
