Cops Try To Escalate Nothing Into Something For “Officer Safety”

If these cops are filling their diapers because a nice woman is looking out for her sister and child then they have ABSOLUTELY no business being cops. No courage, no integrity, no honor. Ged rid of thrm.

 

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  • Must be 2 car lengths
  • When an officer starts stuttering his words you know you’re in trouble because he’s trying to come up with a situation that does not exist so he struggles with the words to create it
  • That officer is so out of control with his emotions he is now a danger to the public because he has a gun
  • That looks like more than two car distance away. It’s like 5 car length away. Man there are so many cowardly cops out there, it’s a shame.
  • WOMAN: I served in the Military COP: I don’t give a Fuck !! That sums it up right there !!!
  • Who knows what they would have done without a witness! It’s amazing the tyrants’ recordings were available for release.
  • The entire Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Department is terrible. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
  • He knows exactly who she is. It’s on his computer. They never ask questions they don’t already know the answer to.
  • “I’m gonna make sure I go home every night.” I’d argue that that’s not in any way part of your duties to serve and protect your community!!! Not yourselves. This is why people HATE you
  • Everyone needs to call the sheriffs department and let us stand up for our veterans
  • As a citizen I would like to point out the most important thing to me when I get pulled over by the police is my safety. I have just as much right to protect my safety as they do I have just as much fear in me as they do and for them to take away our worries and concerns and only think of their others is just another drop in the bucket
  • So, this chicken cop can call for back-up, but her sister can’t wait to make sure she is safe, and if a cop has to worry about his safety all the time he needs to go work at Kentucky Fried Chicken, the only thing threatening is the chicken, that officer was rude the minute he walked up too the car I have seen those videos the whole objective is to kill and go home there is no bridging the gap, cops don’t want it.
  • It would have been so easy for the second cop to just stay with the sister until the stop was over.
  • So nice that the sergeant came to copsplain at the end. Those women feel so much safer now when they know it’s okay for cops to do whatever they like to you.
  • “His words” did not initially state or ever state a probable cause or reasonable articulation of suspicion that a traffic violation has been committed or any other justification for running the woman’s license plate.. Randomly running plates without a just cause is grasping for low hanging fruit in search for any reason to stop a citizen. Targeting citizens without just cause is harassment!
  • So if someone gets pulled over in a residential neighborhood everyone needs to vacate the area?
  • The way the officer is swearing with a child in the back is disgusting, yet entirely expected.
  • Police are trained to be professional arguers. They want to escalate the situation until you do or say something that they can use against you.
  • I don’t understand why the cop got upset about the other car being there. I see multiple cars pulled over together all the time in traffic stops.
  • Sick of cops acting like they’re perfect angels and think everyone is out to get them. Absolutely no self awareness
  • The policing institution is decayed with corruption, ego/anger issues, stupidity, and a blatant disregard for the U.S. Constitution.
  • At this point, I think it’s safe to say law enforcement have become domestic terrorists. And the kick in the teeth is that they’re paid for by their victims.
  • They can get away with assault, they did right here. Even a complaint won’t even be listened to, or lead to any punishment. I agree with your stand your ground statement. edit: Battery, they got away with battery and covering up the battery. That officer should have spent time in jail for crushing that woman with the vehicle’s door.
  • I love how these cops think that people aren’t in danger when these thugs pull them over…..they honestly think that there lives are more important then ours!
  • We must outlaw any and every military member from entering law enforcement. They consider us civilians, which means their mentality tells them they are in a warzone! I left you an email James, are you going to leave the rest of of that need help?
  • I love that the officer tried to overpower her and close her door and miserably got out muscled and failed.
  • Did he really say she was 2 car lengths ahead of them? That’s obviously a blatant lie… she has every right to stop on the side of the road and wait.. This is bullying, plain and simple, and unfortunately is normal, and not the exception, these days…
  • This is my sister and I. All I want to say is the main point that’s concerning to me and that has given me PTSD hasn’t even been highlighted. These officers were conspiring to take my child from me! That’s the issue! One of the officers said he would “hem us up” if the other cop wanted him to then the other cop said “shhhh” and pointed to his body cam. Why is this being overlooked?! It has caused great distress in my child and myself.
  • Don’t worry guys, I’m sure he isn’t in that position anymore, he probably got promoted
  • James perhaps you can speak with a DA or AG on this issue and show the police training is wrong and needs to change for instances like this
  • He is delaying the traffic stop beyond what is reasonable. He could go back to his cruiser and feel as safe as possible. But he is not doing that.
  • I love when they say -“I’m not going to play this game” when they know they are full of shit.
  • Somebody needs to teach the cops the law they are violating more laws than they are enforcing good God Almighty how stupid can they be did they not swear an oath to the Constitution of the United States of America I want every law enforcement officer in this country to reaffirm they’re allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America if they have the balls to do it because they love to violate people’s rights instead of protecting them this is getting ridiculous God help us all when a cop will do this to a woman on the side of a highway Jesus Christ
  • I find it very interesting how I really like your interpretation of those events compared to the VERY LAME assessment from “Audit the Audit”. They must be boot lickers because they gave that cop a “B-“. You have hit the nail on the head. It just amazes me that even with today’s technologies that cops still come up with the idea that their safety is paramount and above the safety of anyone and everyone else. That black vehicle was at least 50 feet away from the traffic stop but they cannot stand for any witnesses to their predatory practices. The only words I have to describe those tyrantical cops are “BADGE DRUNK“. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely. I really hate it when a cop trys copspaining away the reason why they broke the law.
  • If these LEOs are sooooo damn scared for their safety, why don’t they get a safer job? Quit, if you’re scared.
  • Of course. Any car driving by can do a drive by, yes cops.. close the whole freeway
  • Damn he could’ve already written the ticket already damn the ego on this coward
  • It’s very telling that the cops stumble over and ignore the most important question from the driver; “What law is that?” Of course they can’t actually name a law.
  • And then to put the icing on the cake he assaults her with the door and starts fighting with her to close the door and then finally says f*** it I don’t care anymore. And this man is on the streets interacting with the public and the department doesn’t see an issue with this this is a lawsuit waiting to happen I have a gut feeling this officer will end up discharging his gun because of emotional feelings he cannot check his emotions he cannot keep his emotions in balance he creates such horrible situations that puts the public in danger
  • I’ve been in this same situation. It’s about ego, hubris and control.
  • Officer safety? Being a cop is one of the safest jobs out there! You would think that he is a carpenter or something the way he worries about his own safety.
  • I am usually the first to defend a cop’s actions but this just makes my blood boil. These cops are plain wrong!
  • I’m so sick of tyrants violating our rights in the name of “SAFETY”
  • Ugh. I’ve scaled back my 1A viewing to a handful of auditors or aggregate sources because of the sheer stupidity of these cops. I can only take so much stupidity every week. At first it was funny, then educationally fun… now it’s just downright scary. They really have an us v.s. them mentality.
  • Wow, that “I’m gonna make sure i go home every day” was just mind boggling. Completely out of context but showing from where he’s speaking. James, can you go behind the curtain and do a video about the training. I think that would be an eye opener for many people that still believe that cops are protecting and serving anybody. Keep up the good work. God bless!
  • I don’t blame the cops being so paranoid after seeing these types of interactions with law abiding citizens who needs criminals
  • I cannot believe the immaturity of this so called law enforcement officer. This is all about ego and has absolutely nothing to do with officer safety!
  • By their behavior she had every right to stay there because obviously her sister needed a witness to the behavior of these officers for they are clearly not following the color of the law
  • this was/is in my back yard. I’ve got 40 years here born and raised. Been harassed caged and beat by these guys. At least they have body cams now. This first guy talking is a fast talking tyrant
  • The cop says 1/3 of the time he runs a license plate it comes back with a suspended license or warrant. So one out of three people driving down the road have a warrant or suspended license? Unbelievable that the cop can just make up fake facts. I can guarantee you that it’s not one third of people. Wow.
  • This isn’t even surprising anymore it’s just upsetting.
  • The Academy teaches these murderers exactly what they want to hear. That is they can murderer anyone they want without reason or impunity. Police academies is where reform has to start.
  • Once you figure out that police are only there to protect state property and state assets it all makes sense. “To serve and protect” is true, but it’s not to serve and protect you, it’s to serve and protect state property and state officials. Period
  • I love James. He tells it like it is. This cop is so flustered he’s dangerous in my opinion. She’s not close to the traffic stop. She’s waiting for her sister. This is proof her sister is right by waiting for her.
  • 2 very smart ladies who had each others backs true girl power well done girls
  • It’s amazing how 99% of these videos has the cop just opening unlocked doors. I changed the factory settings of my truck that my doors remain locked when I put it in park.
  • Honestly, the most telling sign in this whole video that they are NOT worried for their safety — when the lady in the black car finally agrees to give her ID, you can see the cop in the window reflection casually chewing gum with his hands on his hips while she digs through a large ‘purse’ (for almost 30 seconds) that could easily be holding a very large handgun or any other kind of weapon…he’s not threatened in any way, otherwise he would be on high alert. She’s lucky that he was just there to throw his weight around and bully her, otherwise she could have been shot by a hypervigilant cop.
  • One officer could deal with the white car solo… He only called back-up for the 2nd black vehicle, so why does she have to leave once back-up is there to watch her? Follow the logic – she needs to leave so I’m safe on my own – now I’m not alone she still needs to leave (why?) But now she can stay there because he’s getting his desirse fulfilled by obtaining her ID… Does she need to leave or not?
  • Why are all cops so emotionally unstable and unable to communicate with the public in the way a “peace” officer or public servant should?
  • Keep in mind they are trained to act on fear. Nothing at all like military. We trained to run towards the fight not shit our britches on a traffic stop with two harmless ladies.
  • It’s seriously like they go out of their way to imagine new ways to earn the hate daily.
  • That training session sounded like they are creating heartless killers.
  • The saying “back the blue until it happens to you” is catchy and clever, however, this is one I don’t have to learn in the School of Hard Knocks, ty!
  • “In this day and age” ALWAYS LOCK YOUR CAR DOORS AND KEEP THEM LOCKED!!
  • Dude is literally making shit up as he goes: “Not within two car’s lengths.” Maybe he has depth-perception issues too.
  • Since when did it become illegal to pull on the shoulder of the road?
  • Sister: “What law am I breaking?” Cop: “It’s not safe.”
  • Are they really training him to “can I shoot a child?” That is very concerning.
  • “We investigated ourselves, and found we did NOTHING wrong!” What do you suppose would happen to you if you slammed a cops door on him like that?
  • Cops should be fearful for their life when they act like this.
  • I think of that young child in their mothers back seat, who now is probably afraid of police, and now knows their true behavior.
  • I was once in that child’s shoes. Only we were in our kitchen and my dad went out on the porch to speak to a sharpsville police officer. The discussion got heated and the cop assaulted my dad with his huge mag flashlights from the 90s. When they got a warrant and broke into our home they pointed a shotguns at my mom and us kids! Yeah really wonderful experience. Back the blue until it happens to you.
  • Can you only imagine the shit they got away with before the advent of body cameras and cell phone cameras. It must’ve been a great time for the cops being able to do anything they want to do. Watching this video makes my blood boil.
  • That instigate. They are the lowest form of citizen.
  • Yes, officer safety is the most important consideration. And remember, there are only twenty-two other professions in the US that are more dangerous ..
  • Nothing’s going to change until we do away with qualified immunity
  • After watching these videos, I am surprised we are not reading about more cops getting smoked EVERY day. These guys are out of control.
  • Almost as if they get paid exclusively to escalate
  • If witnesses make you nervous you’re up to no good.. this video defines why cops hate cameras!
  • Cop 101: always escalate. Always use violence. Always earn the hate
  • @12:20 James claims that she has the right to be there but be wary of that advice, you might risk some trouble. Audit the audit covered this video also where he explains why the cops may have the authority to ask her to leave the scene.
  • Isn’t it just so awesome how they make up their own rules laws and just escalate situations out of control. I know for a fact they’re taught how to escalate situations they’re not taught how to deescalate because none of them know how to do that.
  • I love the ones where they got the body cam footage because that means they’ve already taken the first step towards suing the department.
  • When his superiors hear his language saying” I don’t give a fuck” he should be fired on the spot.
  • “I run tags all day long” ….. this is what really happens!
  • Same thing happened when my wife was following me and got pulled over. I pulled over. The cop approached my wife’s car. Then he walked up to me. I said, “She’s following me to my parents house. She’s never been there before.” The cop said, “OK, she was speeding. I’ll be done in a minute.” That was it. No big deal. That was before cell phones and digital maps.
  • Here’s the bottom line everybody!
    • 1. We know how they’re trained
    • 2. We know they’re not responsible for our safety anymore.
    • 3. We know they are allowed to lie to our faces legally.
    • 4. We know they use terry stops, and Call it officer safety.
    • 5. We know they’re protected by police unions.
    • 6. We know they are protected by qualified immunity.
    • 7. We know that they police themselves any time a complaint comes in.
    • 8. We know that most of the people they pick on have no money to protect themselves.
    • 9. They know when they do get caught, the people, cities and counties, and insurance companies, pay for their mistakes.
    • 10. That’s why we are considered guilty until proven innocent.
    • 11. We know we are on trial every time we’re pulled over. So as you can see everything is automatically stacked against us. Yes we have rights, yes we have the constitution, but when you’re guilty until proven innocent our system is broken. Our forefathers would be rolling in their graves, when they see the leaders of this country stomping on our God-given rights. As a country at this time we are all in grave danger. Our system has turned against us. The sad thing is we have allowed it, and we pay for it financially, emotionally, and physically.
  •  Imagine how this would of have gone without bodycam, we know how! They would of beaten that woman probably murdered her and claim she was reaching for his gun or she assaulted him or some bullshit excuse. Man something needs to be done.
  • For “Officer safety” gives them illusion of unlimited power. The training video clearly showed they’re trained to be aggressive tyrants.
  • 8:00 I don’t know you. You don’t know me. That justifies the officers fear in his eyes but somehow doesn’t justify her being afraid and having someone nearby keeping an eye out for her. It used to be witnesses were a good thing.
  • What if the toddler had a gun. That officer is so brave. Putting his life on the line to keep the community safe from disabled moms and kids. He should get an accomodation for bravery.
  • You don’t have to identify simply because they’re a law enforcement officer.. You have the right to be to be secure in your papers and documents..
  • I’m more than a little concerned that the cops in this town (and probably others) are just randomly running plates as they drive around, without actually having a valid reason to do so….then initiating traffic stops without a violation having been committed…looks like a revenue generating scheme to me…
  • At about 7:00 punk cop admits there’s no reason for him to go to the other car! And if you look close at the image of other cars four or five car lengths away! Why would you be afraid…… your bullets would travel much more distance then that!
  • It appears that officer is putting everyone in danger with not only his behavior, but because he is not taken care of the reason he pulled her over and getting them underway.
  • He sounded drunk and extremely childlike. His partner was just an idiot. The Sergeant has allowed this Officer to escalate a peaceful situation and made a fool out of the whole Police Department. This all reflects on the Chief and the Mayor.
  • That guy’s voice started quaking as soon as his he felt his supposed authority being questioned. He’s obviously intimidated by women. And, while I’m not saying this as fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he suffered from some kind of extreme abuse at some point, if it’s not ongoing at home. He needs to undergo a full psychological evaluation by a 3rd party professional to determine whether or not he’s fit for duty. Pretty scary that someone that emotionally compromised is carrying a firearm in the line of duty.
  • So from the get go he used a questionable tactic to get her pulled over with the running random tags without any laws being broken.
  • It’s not safe for you to be here! What happened to protect & serve?!!! You’re always safe w us heroes!
  • I do think the officers could have been more professional and could have handled it differently, but what it boils down too is this lady was obstructing the traffic stop by her very presence. She’s causing the officers attention to be diverted to her instead of the vehicle that he stopped.
  • she was well above the 10 ft recommendation. she should have gotten out on the public roadside and recorded him, from a safe distance.
  • The true fact is they hate accountability and they hate it more when citizens know more than they do. In today’s society it’s more dangerous to be a citizen stop by the police, than it is to be a Police Officer, especially when the Police ask you to get out of your car in any situation.
  • That fear-based training tho.
  • “Not within 2 car lengths of my traffic stop”. SUV is at least 4 car lengths away. The officer’s complaint with the other vehicle is with the other driver, not the driver he pulled over and harrassed. The officer was unnecessarily prolonging the detainment. The police officer has obvious anger issues. He will likely be the cause of unnecessary harm to citizens in the future. Wow, he even tries to slam the vehicle door on the woman. The police officer has more to worry about with all of the moving vehicles driving by than the woman who pulled over in wait for her sister.
  • Asserting your rights makes these tyrants soooo mad
  • I like when police say their recording the interaction you after wait 2 or 3 years to get it and pay over hundreds dollars
  • Florida Statute 901.151, no crime no ID gets null and voided when a cops ego is shattered.
  • “I’ll explain it to you later “. Uh no sir. Explain it to me first then I’ll know if I’m legally obligated to cooperate!
  • I don’t get why he’s yelling from 40ft away trying to tell the black car to go and then telling the women in the white car that the black car has to leave but never actually goes to the black car and tells it to leave. He’s just got ego issues.
  • Embarrassing, disgusting and unprofessional are the kinder words I would use to describe the tyrant cops behaviour. A textbook example of how to turn decent people against cops.
  • I feel bad for his family. all of their families.
  • I the police exam needs to include questions to test the canidate’s undersanding as to why ciruclar reasoning is absurd.

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Why Women Don’t Get to Be Angry

When men get angry, their power grows. When women do, it shrinks.

.. While parents talk to girls about emotions more than they do to boys, anger is excluded. Reflect with me for a moment: How did you first learn to think about emotions, and anger in particular?

.. My mother may have been livid, but she gave every appearance of being cheerful and happy. By staying silent and choosing this particular outlet for her feelings, she communicated a trove of information: for example, that anger was experienced in isolation and was not worth sharing verbally with others. That furious feelings are best kept to oneself. That when they do inevitably come out, the results can be scary, shocking, and destructive.

.. My mother was acting in a way that remains typical for many women: She was getting her anger “out,” but in a way that explicitly separated it from her relationships. Most women report feeling the angriest in private and interpersonal settings.

.. While we experience anger internally, it is mediated culturally and externally by other people’s expectations and social prohibitions.

.. in some cultures anger is a way to vent frustration, but in others it is more for exerting authority.

.. In the United States, anger in white men is often portrayed as justifiable and patriotic, but in black men as criminality, and in black women as threat. In the Western world, anger in women has been widely associated with “madness.”

.. At home, children still learn quickly that for boys and men, anger reinforces traditional gender expectations, but that for girls and women, anger confounds them.

.. It’s as children that most of us learn to regard anger as unfeminine, unattractive, and selfish.

.. Many of us are taught that our anger will be an imposition on others, making us irksome and unlikeable. That it will alienate our loved ones or put off people we want to attract. That it will twist our faces, make us ugly. This is true even for those of us who have to use anger to defend ourselves in charged and dangerous situations. As girls, we are not taught to acknowledge or manage our anger so much as fear, ignore, hide, and transform it.

.. There is not a woman alive who does not understand that women’s anger is openly reviled.

.. They want to know how to stand up for themselves “without sounding angry or bitter,”

.. told we are “crazy,” “irrational,” even “demonic.”

.. Our society is infinitely creative in finding ways to dismiss and pathologize women’s rage.

.. When a woman shows anger in institutional, political, and professional settings, she automatically violates gender norms. She is met with aversion, perceived as more hostile, irritable, less competent, and unlikable

.. The same people who might opt to work for an angry-sounding, aggressive man are likely to be less tolerant of the same behavior if the boss were a woman.

.. When a man becomes angry in an argument or debate, people are more likely to abandon their own positions and defer to his. But when a woman acts the same way, she’s likely to elicit the opposite response.

.. Black girls and women, for example, routinely silenced by “angry black woman” stereotypes, have to contend with abiding dangers of institutionalized violence that might result from their expressing justifiable rage.

.. men, as studies find, consider anger to be power enhancing in a way that women don’t. For men, anger is far more likely to be power enhancing.

.. Anger has a bad rap, but it is actually one of the most hopeful and forward thinking of all our emotions. It begets transformation, manifesting our passion and keeping us invested in the world. It is a rational and emotional response to trespass, violation, and moral disorder..

.. It bridges the divide between what is and what ought to be

.. By effectively severing anger from “good womanhood,” we choose to sever girls and women from the emotion that best protects us against danger and injustice.

.. I am still constantly being reminded that it’s “better” if women didn’t “seem so angry.” What does “better” mean, exactly? And why does it fall so disproportionately on the shoulders of women to be “better” by putting aside anger in order to “understand” and to forgive and forget? Does it make us “good” people? Is it healthy? Does it enable us to protect our interests, bring change to struggling communities, or upend failing systems?

.. Mainly, it props up a profoundly corrupt status quo.

.. It took me too long to realize that the people most inclined to say “You sound angry” are the same people who uniformly don’t care to ask “Why?”

.. They’re interested in silence, not dialogue.

.. A society that does not respect women’s anger is one that does not respect women, not as human beings, thinkers, knowers, active participants, or citizens. Women around the world are clearly angry and acting on that emotion. That means, inevitably, that a backlash is in full swing, most typically among “moderates” who are fond of disparaging angry women as dangerous and unhinged.

.. It is easier to criticize the angry women than to ask the questions “What is making you so angry?” and “What can we do about it?” — the answers to which have disruptive and revolutionary implications.

Israel, This Is Not Who We Are

Orthodoxy should be respected, but we cannot allow the politics of a radical minority to alienate millions of Jews worldwide.

.. Last month, a Conservative rabbi was detained for the alleged crime of performing a non-Orthodox wedding ceremony in Israel. In several municipalities, attempts were made to disrupt secular life by closing convenience stores on the Sabbath.

These events are creating the impression that the democratic and egalitarian dimensions of the Jewish democratic state are being tested.

.. For 4,000 years, the Jewish people were seen as the world’s moral compass.

.. The Zionist movement has been unwaveringly democratic from its very start. Writ large upon its flag were liberty, equality and human rights for all. It was also one of the very first national movements to guarantee full equality and voting rights for women.

.. Its Declaration of Independence guarantees “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex,” as well as a guarantee of freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.

..now, when Israel’s government appears to be tarnishing the sacred value of equality, many supporters feel it is turning its back on Jewish heritage, the Zionist ethos and the Israeli spirit

.. In Israel, it will

  • heighten the sense of polarization and discord. Abroad,
  • Israel may find itself associated with a broken values system and questionable friends.

As a result, future leaders of the West may become hostile or indifferent to the Jewish state.

.. For over 200 years, modern Judaism has aligned itself with enlightenment. The Jews of the new era have fused our national pride and religious affiliation with a dedication to human progress, worldly culture and morality.

.. when members of Israel’s current government unintentionally undermine the covenant between Judaism and enlightenment, they crush the core of contemporary Jewish existence.

.. Already today, the main challenge facing the Jewish diaspora is a deep — and deepening — generational divide. All over the world, and especially in North America, Jewish millennials are raising doubts that their parents and grandparents never raised. The commitment to Israel and Jewish institutions is not unconditional.

.. If present trends persist, young Jews might not acquiesce to an affiliation with a nation that discriminates against

  • non-Orthodox Jews,
  • non-Jewish minorities and the
  • L.G.B.T. community.

They may not

  • fight the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, they may not
  • support Israel in Washington and they may not
  • provide it with the strategic rear guard that Israel so needs.

.. Let us not forget: A vast majority of the world’s Jews do not identify as Orthodox. They are traditional, secular, Conservative, Reform or completely unaffiliated. Orthodoxy should be respected, but we cannot allow the politics of a radical minority to alienate millions of Jews worldwide.

.. This is not who we are, and this is not who we wish to be. This is not the face we want to show our children, grandchildren and the family of nations.

MS-13 Isn’t the Problem Trump Says It Is

In reality, MS-13 members make up a fraction of Border Patrol arrests and a small part of gang activity in the United States. While the group has committed brutal murders on Long Island, there is no evidence that the gang is increasingly sending members into the country.

..  Rather than a nationwide threat, the group is being used as a political tool used to “turbocharge the xenophobia that underlies the debate around immigration

.. MS-13 members, some 10,000 in number, make up less than 1 percent of the approximately 1.4 million gang members in the United States, according to F.B.I. estimates. Other gangs are several times larger.

.. MS-13’s numbers are stagnant, too. While precise size estimates are hard to come by, authorities have used the same figure of about 10,000 members for over a decade. (The F.B.I. estimates the gang has between 30,000 and 50,000 members around the world.)
.. Far from menacing cities across the country, as Mr. Trump has suggested, the gang’s presence is concentrated in Long Island, Los Angeles and the region outside Washington.
.. In addition, most MS-13 recruits are not migrants but teenagers who live in the United States and are alienated from their communities
.. In those areas, the gang may be the only group that provides a sense of identity
.. Policymakers in Central America have argued deporting criminals from the United States has exacerbated gang problems abroad, ultimately worsening crime in the United States.
.. While MS-13 began in the 1980s as a small and unorganized street gang in Los Angeles, some evidence suggests the group expanded in Central America after the United States began deporting illegal immigrants — many with criminal backgrounds — with greater intensity in 1996. Experts have described this process as “exporting” American-style gang culture to Central America.

.. Poor prison conditions in those countries may have also helped MS-13 become larger and better organized
.. By 2008, law enforcement found evidence that MS-13 leaders in El Salvadoran prisons were ordering assassinations in Washington while making plans to unify gang groups in the United States.

MS-13 was a gang fueled by deportation, not immigration,” Dr. Leap said.

.. Trump uses MS-13 as a political tool

At a rally last month in Nashville, Mr. Trump once again linked MS-13 to his political opponents. He has said on Twitter that Democrats are “weak on crime” along the border and are “protecting MS-13 thugs.”

.. Mike Huckabee, tweeted an incendiary picture of MS-13 members, likening them to the campaign staff for Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader.
.. MS-13 has entered the national conversation because of Mr. Trump’s anti-immigration agenda, not because it has become more threatening, Dr. Cruz said. Because of the gang’s association with Central American countries that Mr. Trump dislikes, “it’s the perfect group for him to blame,” he added.