Transcripts For KGO This Week With George Stephanopoulos 201

Announcer were in the community, hearing from all sides on how to unite the nation. From abc news, its this week reporting now from dallas, coanchor martha raddatz. Good morning from dallas, a city on edge. Were downtown at the memorial outside Police Headquarters where just yesterday Police Snipers took to the roof, officers ready with their guns after receiving an anonymous threat to Law Enforcement. Police and the city itself on high alert after 12 officers were shot, 5 of them killed thursday night. Were here on the ground trying to understand the pain, the grief and what comes next. Speaking with africanamerican teens worried about their future and current and former Police Officers who describe the challenges they face. Well also tackle the political divide in a polarized america with representatives of both president ial candidates along with our panel and speak with influential pastor t. D. Jakes about how we begin to heal the wounds of a nation in mourning. But first, lets begin with matt gutman bringing us the latest in the investigation. Matt, youve been here since right after the shooting occurred. Whats the latest with the shooter . The latest with the shooter is that the investigators have been in his house. They believe that he was capable and possibly willing to have executed a far more devastating attack here in this city. They found bombmaking materials, a small cache of weapons, a large cache of ammunition in that house and the fbi is now trying to piece together the chronology made complicated by the sheer scale of the crime scene. We saw shell casings that were hundreds of yards away from where that shooter was finally killed and this is a threepronged investigation by the fbi and the atf. First, they have to investigate the attack itself then investigate the policeinvolved shooting. There were 12 officers who discharged their weapons and, of course, the use of that robotborne bomb to neutralize the shooter at the very end of that shooting spree. First time thats ever been used as we know. The Dallas Morning News had an extraordinary front page editorial this morning asking for the city to come together. What have you seen . Ive seen an amazing outpouring. Obviously you see behind you all of these flowers, and just behind us yesterday there was a Police Officer with whom i was talking, and somebody came up to her, an africanamerican, and said my son just wants to hug you and she came up to him and he hugged her and they hugged each other and then it started this long chain of hugs, 30 people ended up embracing her one after the other with such force that her name tag fell off and she was tearing and they were tearing. It was a very meaningful moment and also very spontaneous and genuine. It was really a beautiful moment. But we also have seen across the country overnight protests, more protests. Thats right, martha. In several major cities, including minneapolisst. Paul and baton rouge, and in minneapolisst. Paul a major highway was closed down as they clashed with police there. Five Police Officers injured, the protesters were apparently throwing rocks and bottles, even firecrackers. And in baton rouge 99 people arrested as protesters clashed with police there and including those people who were arrested was deray mckesson, he is one of the founders of the black lives Matter Movement and he managed to film the arrest on periscope, streamed it live. The new trend. Thank you very much, matt, for joining us. As you know, president obama on saturday said that the nation has made progress since the 1960s but acknowledged it has been a tough week for the nation. For many young black americans, this is all they know, the question, how to bridge the divide in a polarized america . To tackle that question, i sat down with a Diverse Group of dallas residents, Law Enforcement, Community Activists and teenagers, to talk about the distrust between police and the communities they patrol and protect. Tuesday, baton rouge. Wednesday, minneapolis. We got pulled over for a busted taillight in the back. They killed my boyfriend. Reporter and thursday, dallas. A gutwrenching series of events and here in dallas a time for soul searching. Marty woodleys brother was at the peaceful protest on thursday. The number went from one police to two police then from three police. Its such a scary feeling because its like it becomes real once it hits your town. Reporter 23yearold devonte tidwell, the son of a Police Officer, telling me all of this hit too close to home. What was thursday night like for you . It was scary. I wasnt so much scared or fearful for my life. I started to think about things that i didnt think about before because my dad is a Police Officer, so i woke up that morning, i woke up friday morning, i believe, and i laid in the bed and was like, man, should i start trying to figure out where my dads Life Insurance policy is and im 23 years old. Do i need to start to write a will . Reporter dallas Police Officer Sergeant Willie ford is caught between two worlds, grieving for his fallen brothers, fearful for his sons. What do you tell your sons if theyre pulled over . I tell them, do what youre told to do. Thats number one. And then well deal with whatever happens afterwards. I fear for him. I fear for my grandsons and for me to sit here and say that i dont, i do, because this in this time 2016 things still occur like that. If there is a reason to hope amid all the fear and pain, its that this week has forced a difficult and necessary conversation. Detective ron pinkston, head of the Dallas Police association, struggling to reconcile his own experiences of father with that of Sergeant Ford. Do you think africanamerican males are more at risk when theyre pulled over . I go back to what Sergeant Ford was saying, what he tells his kid is the same thing i told my two sons that went to college. When you get pulled over, because they were teenagers, you know thats going to happen. How do you act when the officer comes up . What do you do . Do you think they are at as equally at risk as Sergeant Fords son . Teenagers . Yes, my son teenagers. My son, yes, i think theyre as equally at risk as Sergeant Fords. Is he listening to you, Sergeant Ford . I think its hard for you to understand unless youve gone through it and historically i know him and i am not saying he doesnt understand but i think its a little more personal for me because this happened to me. But isnt that the whole idea of this, isnt that what were talking about, bridging that and listening to each other and understanding . Well, there is a problem understanding if you havent gone through it, and i think for me thats the hardest part trying to convey that to people that havent gone through it. Those things for us, an Africanamerican Community, those are significant events, and so they are traumatic events. Were not going to stop doing traffic stops. Were still going to continue to do them. You just have to be, you know, compassionate about how those things impact you but still do your job but understand people when youre dealing with them and those are the conversations i think we need to have. Detective, you have said that you think its equally difficult for a white teenage male. If you see it one way, they see it the other way, how do you change perceptions for them . Thats a complicated question. Thats one where the communications, where you sit down and youre not going to have one conversation and cure whats affecting our country right now. So many times well get a White Community here, black community there, and nobody goes to the same church. Thats not whats happening in dallas. We have communication going on here. Are we going to cure all the ills of our country, no. But it only starts if you communicate and having dialogue and thats what im saying. So much to talk about. We turn now to Homeland Security secretary jeh johnson and new York City Police commissioner bill bratton. Secretary johnson and commissioner bratton spoke side by side on friday reassuring the nation, calling for unity and standing with dallas, and they join us now from new york. Good morning to you, both. I want to start with you, secretary johnson. We just heard those voices, those strong, powerful voices, but also reminds us that there is still a divide. How do you bridge that divide . First of all, martha, violence is never the answer. An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. In these times, building bridges, conversations, Community Relationships between the community, between Law Enforcement can and does work. We want to see Police Departments across this country that are reflective of the community. We want to see community policing, something commissioner bratton knows a lot about, continued conversation, continued dialogue. This is a time for healing. Its a time for building bridges. We mourn the loss of five brave Police Officers in dallas, and there have been incidents all across this country that have created a lot of anxiety. Now is the time for healing, the time for mourning and the time for building bridges and dialogue. You know, the Washington Post reports that the number of police shot and killed this year is significantly higher than last year. So, is this is there a growing danger for police . Our Public Safety officers have to always be vigilant when it comes to Public Safety and their own safety. We respect and acknowledge that a Police Officer has to protect himself. There are ways to do that through Police Training and the like. We are concerned about incidents targeting the police. The police, its important to remember, are there to protect and to serve, to protect all of us across our communities. They are there as peace officers, as Public Safety officers, and at a time like this its important to stand with them and to remember that theyre there to serve all of us. Secretary johnson, what about the federal governments role in Law Enforcement . We have thousands and thousands of Smaller Police forces across the country. Dallas is considered quite progressive. Is there a role for the federal government in overseeing these local Police Departments to make sure there is uniformity . Well, our role in the federal government, in addition to our own federal Law Enforcement efforts, there are literally tens of thousands of federal Law Enforcement officers in the department of Homeland Security but through our grantmaking activity, through the encouragement of active Shooter Training exercises, through financial support, grant support for surveillance, for communications, through training, through our federal Law Enforcement Training Center and the like, there is a role for the federal government to play in supporting local Law Enforcement efforts. Just in this administration weve enhanced our cooperation with state and local Law Enforcement to deal with Homeland Security threats, to deal with challenges to Public Safety, so there is absolutely a role, and were going to keep at that. And, commissioner bratton, i want to turn to you, and i want to talk about the killings of two black men this week at the hands of Police Officers. We saw those videos. Whats your reaction to those videos . Well, those videos are very disturbing to anybody, whether its a Police Officer, a member of the public, and its a reminder of the risk to the public in confrontations with the police and certainly risks to the police. And the idea is we need to find Common Ground and understanding the role of the police and the role of the public. This is a shared responsibility trying to bridge these differences that are becoming quite evident through many of these videos that are now becoming very frequent on our tv stations and in the public. We have come a long way. We have come a very long way, and i can speak for new york but quite clearly events of this past week show we have barely almost just begun the journey. And, commissioner bratton, i want to ask you quickly about the robot that was used to kill the shooter. Is that something were going to be seeing more of . Do you approve of that . What we saw in dallas, and i approve of the chiefs decision down there to use that robot as to not put any additional officers lives at risk in that circumstance. It will be reviewed as all shooting incidents and all use of force by police need to be reviewed and it is something that needs to be done in a very public way, but the reality is that technology is available to us, the threats that are made against us, and i dont just mean the police, i mean the public. There were innocent civilians shot during that situation in dallas, so we will review it and well take a look at it. That capability is there but it is the first time that type of action has been initiated here in the United States and it deserves to be reviewed. Thanks very much for joining us, commissioner bratton and secretary johnson. Thank you. Thank you. And lets bring in senior justice correspondent pierre thomas, who covers Law Enforcement for us. Pierre, youve covered Law Enforcement for decades, and in the last year or so, there has been a real escalation, a surge in homicides, shootings. You were recently in chicago. What did you see, and how can you relate that to whats going on here . Martha, this is a defining moment. These tensions come at a time when police around the country are seeing lots of violence, especially in major cities. Much of it with guns, and we know in many of those cities a lot of the victims and the suspects in the shootings are africanamericans. Sadly blacks are overrepresented in urban violence but we should be clear that the violence is not just contained to cities and it crosses racial lines. More than half the people murdered in 2014 were white and roughly half of the murder suspects were white. To further intensify the situation currently, the number of officers killed by gunfire is up 44 compared to last year, but regardless of the pressure, the citizens of this country of all races deserve the best in policing. What were seeing now is that when police make mistakes, theyre much more likely to be caught on tape and the view were getting sometimes is ugly and were seeing that some of the biases that africanamericans have been complaining about for years is in fact real, martha. Whats the solution, pierre . Training and training and can i say training again. Officers who are properly trained in how to respond to all kinds of situations typically perform well. And thats what usually happens more often than not. We should say, martha, that there are thousands of interactions between police and the public every day that go just fine. I spent a lot of time with police and what i found is the best officers seek to deescalate situations, thats the common trait, lower the heat when they can, and the other thing thats helpful is diversity, communities of all hues like to see officers that they do and understand their culture and all the nuances that come with it but i should say a properly or poorly trained officer is the key. Someone whos bad is bad whether theyre black, white or green, and its key that the Police Departments know the communities they serve and have direct lines of communication and they must have a mechanism for dealing with the minority of bad officers that are out there. The only thing that strikes me over and over again is how a patrolman comes in contact with so many people, if theyre bad, theyll have a disproportionate affect on the community, martha. Always great to have your perspective, pierre. Thank you. And coming up in just two minutes, will the next commander in chief help bring the country together or deepen the divide . Ill talk to supporters from both sides including a possible trump vp pick. And later, beginning to heal, our interview with influential pastor t. D. Jakes as residents of dallas work to answer this emotional appeal from their police chief. Our officers are going to need to hear from you more than just today that you appreciate their sacrifice. Announcer this week with George Stephanopoulos is brought to you by hewlettpackard enterprise. Hewlettpackard enterprise. H ned a new way to keep up with the data from over 30 billion connected devices. Just 30 billion . So, a bold group of researchers and computer scientists in Silicon Valley had a breakthrough they called. The machine. The machine. It changed the basic architecture of computing. Putting a massive pool of memory at the center of everything. And by doing so. It changed the world. 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