Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Wednesday that he wants to “get police more money” to handle the “god-awful problems” they face in the line of duty.
Biden addressed calls to defund the police while speaking at a virtual fundraiser hosted by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D).
“I don’t want to defund police,” Biden said. “I want to get police more money in order to deal with the things they badly need, from making sure they have access to community policing, that they have also in the departments social workers, psychologists, people who in fact can handle those god-awful problems that a cop has to have four degrees to handle.”
There have been some calls on the left to “defund the police” following the police killing of George Floyd that sparked nationwide protests and national discussions on race.
Most Democrats do not support defunding the police but rather have advocated for reassessing police spending and steering law enforcement funds toward rebuilding minority communities.
Biden on Wednesday said that in his first 100 days in office he’d create a national police oversight commission with civil rights leaders, police officers, police chiefs and other criminal justice experts to consider police reforms, including hiring, training and de-escalation practices.
“Reform means, at least the beginning, banning chokeholds, stopping transferring military weapons of war to the police departments, creating a model use of force standard and holding all police to the high standard,” Biden said.