'This Week' Transcript: America in Crisis: Ambush in Dallas

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR 'THIS WEEK' ON July 10, 2016 and it will be updated.

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC HOST: 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 -- 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?

JEH JOHNSON, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: 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. It’s 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.

RADDATZ: 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?

COMMISSONER BILL BRATTON, NYPD: 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, it’s 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 it’s important to stand with them and to remember that they’re there to serve all of us.

RADDATZ: Secretary Johnson, what about the federal government’s 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?

JOHNSON: 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 grant-making 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, we’ve enhanced our cooperation with state and local law enforcement to deal with homeland security threats, to deal with challenges to public safety. So there’s absolutely a role and we’ve got to keep at that.

RADDATZ: 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. What’s your reaction to those videos?

BRATTON: Well, those videos are very disturbing to anybody, Martha, whether it’s a police officer or a member of the public. And it’s 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 in 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 this past week show we have really only just begun the journey.

RADDATZ: And Commissioner Bratton, I want to ask you quickly about the robot that was used to kill this shooter. Is that something we’re going to be seeing more of? Do you approve of that?

BRATTON: What we saw in Dallas -- and I approve of the chief’s decision down there to use that robot so as to not put any additional officers’ lives at risk in that circumstance. It will be reviewed, as all shooting incidents are, 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 don’t just mean the police, I mean the public -- there were innocent civilians shot during that situation in Dallas. So we will review it, we’ll 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.

RADDATZ: Thanks very much for joining us, Commissioner Bratton and Secretary Johnson.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

BRATTON: Thank you.

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