Carson: ‘This is probably a good time’ to ‘look at appropriate reforms’ to policing

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said Sunday it is “probably a good time” to examine policing reforms but declined to say whether the Trump administration would support proposals introduced last week by House Democrats.

“We need to look at appropriate reforms, and this is probably a good time to shine the spotlight on it and get it done,” Carson said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think that’s one of the things the president has made very clear. This is an issue. It will be looked at. It will be dealt with.”

Carson cited President Trump’s signing of the bipartisan First Step Act criminal justice reform law in 2018.

Fox News’s Chris Wallace asked Carson whether the administration would support the reforms contained in a bill introduced by House Democrats, including bans on chokeholds and so-called no-knock warrants as well as the creation of a national database of police misconduct.

“I expect the president and the administration to engage appropriate stakeholders and to look at everything,” Carson said, adding, “Obviously, we do not want to create a situation where the police are under the microscope and they don’t want to do their jobs because they’re afraid.”

“When people make decisions based on anger or emotion, seldom are they good decisions,” Carson added.

Wallace also asked Carson whether he or his wife, Candy, has had “the talk,” a conversation numerous black parents have recounted having with their children about how to avoid escalation during an encounter with the police, with his three sons.

“I have the same talk with them that my mother had with me and my brother, that we should always respect positions of authority like the police. … I tell my sons the same thing, and I’ve never had a problem. They’ve never had a problem,” Carson said, prompting Wallace to note that as a white man, he had never either been given or felt the need to give such a talk.