Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden appeared to suggest during an MSNBC town hall event on Monday night that he no longer had the support of law enforcement agencies, who he also said needed “sensitivity training.”
Biden was asked by a woman, who described herself as a mother of a police officer and wife of a retired police officer, to address the
“troubling” movement to defund the police and how his policies would promote the safety of officers and communities. “Biden dodged the question of safety, but pointed out that cops had supported him in the past,” The Washington Free Beacon reported.
“I have had overwhelming support from police my whole career, up until this year,” Biden told the woman.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden admitted during an NBC town hall that he no longer has the support of law enforcement when questioned by the wife of a police officer.https://t.co/1zjsaZNnc5 pic.twitter.com/v0GIjLLFZe
— Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) October 6, 2020
President Donald Trump grilled Biden during the presidential debate over the lack of support that he has received from law enforcement groups, saying, “He doesn’t have any law support. He has no law enforcement.”
When Biden countered by claiming that Trump’s statement was not true, Trump pressed him, “Oh, really, who do you have? Name one group that supports you. Name one group that came out and supported you. Go ahead. Think we have time.”
“We don’t have time to do anything,” Biden said.
“No. No. Think right now,” Trump continued. “Name one law enforcement group that came out in support of you.”
While Trump has earned the endorsement of multiple influential law enforcement groups. Biden’s support from law enforcement has come from individual former and current officials, among them “former U.S. attorneys, former state attorneys general, former sheriffs, and former police chiefs,” as well as former Obama administration secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Fox News reported in early September.
Later during the MSNBC town hall event, Biden called for police officers to receive “more help,” more money and “sensitivity training.”
WATCH:
Joe Biden says that police officers should have "sensitivity training." pic.twitter.com/LQO0IHwxLW
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 6, 2020
Biden’s campaign has focused on trying to portray law enforcement in the U.S. as being plagued by systemic racism.
“Biden has had to confront his record on criminal justice, particularly his role in crafting a sweeping crime bill in 1994 that critics say paved the way for mass incarceration of Black men,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “The candidate has since called aspects of that bill a mistake and said he would promote policies that would end mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent crimes and eliminate the disparity between crack and powder-cocaine sentences.”
“Biden has said his Justice Department would once again use its power to hold entire cities accountable for police misconduct by conducting far-ranging investigations into police departments known as pattern-and-practice probes. Such inquiries were a hallmark of the Obama administration’s efforts to overhaul troubled local police agencies,” The Journal continued. “Biden has also said his attorney general would advocate passage of legislation lowering the bar for bringing civil-rights cases against police officers and banning the use of chokeholds.”
“Biden is advocating an Obama-era program to employ the broad use of clemency for certain nonviolent and drug crimes and more resources for public defenders’ offices. He has also proposed ending the disparity between crack and powder-cocaine sentences, decriminalizing the use of marijuana and automatically expunging all previous cannabis-use convictions,” The Journal added. “Biden denies that he is weak on crime. He has said that crime and violence is systemic due to barriers related to economic opportunity, housing, education and other issues, and that crime rates will fall by improving those areas and making them more equitable.”