Who would have expected Biden to do this?
On Sunday (May 15), President Joe Biden stated that it is the job of police officers to deliver effective crime deterrence and equal justice in a speech where he balanced two political priorities.
The President made his remarks at a memorial service held for the 563 officers who died in the line of duty in the previous year.
During his speech, Biden didn’t give any new insight into how his administration would resolve delays in police reform that sought to hold the police to higher standards following high-profile killings of unarmed Black Americans.
Instead, Biden kept his focus on street violence, stating there wasn’t any tension between deterring crime and reforming law enforcement.
“Folks, the answer is not to abandon the streets; it’s not to choose between safety and equal justice,” Biden stated, seemingly answering concerns about rising street violence that has plagued his Presidency in the election year.
Biden also called out the defund the police movement, which is shared by many far-left Democratic lawmakers, saying, “And we should agree it’s not to defund the police — it’s to fund police. Fund them with the resources, the training they need to protect our communities and themselves and restore trust.”
The President also mentioned the deadly shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., in which a gunman opened fire at a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood, killing ten and injuring three, “We must all work together to address the hate that remains a stain on the soul of America.”
Biden’s comments also come a few days from the second anniversary of George Floyd’s May 25, 2020, killing, prompting mass protests about police violence.
In 2020, Biden promised Floyd’s family — and voters — that he would act on the George Floyd bill, which would hold officers to higher legal standards for rights violations and limit officers’ use of chokeholds, but talks stalled last year.
