OSHKOSH — Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said this as the nation reacted Monday to the assassination of three police officers in Baton Rouge, La.:

“As chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, I have worked to find areas of agreement to improve our nation’s security and public safety. One thing we should all be able to agree on is that the police who protect Americans’ safety and our communities’ peace must be respected, not targeted, either by hateful rhetoric or the violence that grows out of it.

“I agree with Hillary Clinton on this: The assassination of officers in Baton Rouge was ‘an assault on us all.’ I agree with Donald Trump that as a nation, ‘We grieve for the officers killed in Baton Rouge.’ And I agree with Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. of Milwaukee when he says that anti-police rhetoric ‘has turned out some hateful things inside of people that are now playing themselves out on the American police officer.’

“This targeting of the finest among us must end now. Those who preach it or justify it must be denounced by all decent people immediately and forcefully. Hatred of police has deadly consequences — for officers and for all Americans who depend on their protection.”