Booker ‘more than confident’ work toward police reform will continue

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J) said Sunday he is “more than confident” that future work toward police reform will continue despite failed recent negotiations. 

Booker said on CBS’s “Face The Nation” he would be willing to come back to the table in the future to negotiate the matter with other lawmakers like Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) who tried to help craft previous measures.

“Senator Scott and I actually are friends,” Booker said. “I am more than confident, especially as I look at other Republicans there and other folks that deal with this, that we are going to find a way to keep working on this issue.”

Booker said that he and his Republican colleagues came to an agreement about banning chokeholds by police but could not compromise on measures that would have provided “data transparency” to ensure “real consequences.” 

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” Booker said of the need for more publicly reported data about policing. 

“Right now we do not have a collection on these things. I think to give transparency to any town, we should start understanding what are the traffic stops, the demographics of those and the like,” he added.

Booker referred to the police reform talks as “a moral moment” and cited personal experience when police have unfairly targeted him.

“We live in a country where both Senator Scott and I have had personal experiences with wrongfully being stopped by police, guns drawn on us, accused of things we didn’t do,” Booker said. 

“I cannot change the minds of some Republicans, but I’ve got enough momentum now that I will continue to work,” Booker added.