Defunding the Police

Defunding the Police

Defunding the Police

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HARRIS: Supporter of Defunding the Police
During a June 9, 2020 interview on a New York-based radio program, Sen. Harris voiced her support for the “defund the police” movement that had mushroomed in the aftermath of George Floyd’s recent death and the riots that followed. Objecting to the amount of money that was being devoted to police budgets rather than to community services such as education, housing, and healthcare, Harris made the following remarks:

  • “This whole movement is about rightly saying, we need to take a look at these [police] budgets and figure out whether it reflects the right priorities.”
  • “Defund the police, the issue behind it, is that we need to reimagine how we are creating safety. And when you have many cities that have one third of their entire city budget focused on policing, we know that is not the smart way and the best way or the right way to achieve safety.”
  • “For too long, the status quo thinking has been, you get more safety by putting more cops on the street. Well, that’s wrong, because by the way, if you wanna look at upper middle class suburban neighborhoods, they don’t have that patrol car.”

During a June 8, 2020 appearance on MSNBC, Sen. Harris explicitly called on U.S. cities to scale back their police forces and the funding that they received. “Part of what we have to do here is also look at the militarization of police departments and, and the kind of money that is going to that,” she said. “And we need to demilitarize police departments…. It is outdated and is actually wrong and backward to think that more police officers will create more safety.”

In another June 8, 2020 interview — this time on ABC’s The View — Harris advocated for police funds to be redirected to social service programs. “In many cities in America, over one third of their city budget goes to police,” she lamented. “So, we have to have this conversation. What are we doing? What about the money going to social services? What about the money going to helping people with job training? What about helping with the mental health issues that communities are being plagued with for which we’re putting no resources?”

And in a third June 8, 2020 interview —  on ABC’s Good Morning America — Harris praised Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti for his decision to cut the city’s police budget by $150 million and reallocate those dollars to social services. “I applaud Eric Garcetti for doing what he’s done,” she said.

WALZ: Supporter of “Alternatives to Policing”
Days after Minneapolis had been overrun by violent riots in the wake of George Floyd’s May 25, 2020 death, Gov. Walz endorsed a package of criminal-justice reforms that included “alternatives to policing.” He characterized the package, which was put together by the Minnesota People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) Caucus, as one of his “legislative priorities.” “Minnesotans are demanding real change,” Walz said during a June 11, 2020 press conference. “We stand united with House and Senate leaders and the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus, ready to get to work during the upcoming special session. I stand with the legislators who have coordinated a powerful set of reforms to make meaningful changes to our law enforcement system in Minnesota.”

Vowing also that “Minnesota will change the way we do policing,” Walz in June 2020 said that one of his reforms would be the creation of an Office of Community-Led Public Safety Coordination, which would “promote and monitor alternatives to traditional policing models” and award grants to fund “healing circles.” “These are long overdue changes,” Walz added, “but they do not end the conversation we’re having about police accountability. The POCI Caucus has shown tremendous leadership on this issue, and I look forward to continuing our work with them to bring meaningful reform.”

TRUMP: Opponent of Defunding the Police
During a June 8, 2020 White House roundtable with members of law enforcement, President Trump lauded the police for the “fantastic” job they were doing. “There won’t be defunding, there won’t be dismantling of our police, and there is not going to be any disbanding of our police,” he said, adding: “We want to make sure we don’t have any bad actors in there, and sometimes, you’ll see some horrible things like we witnessed recently, but 99 — I say 99.9, but let’s go with 99% — of them are great, great people, and they’ve done jobs that are record setting.” Noting further that crime statistics nationwide were “among the best numbers we’ve ever had in terms of recorded history,” Trump stated: “There’s a reason for less crime, it’s because we have great law enforcement. I’m very proud of them.”

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