At the start of the Democratic convention, The New York Times reported that Biden made a statement during a discussion that “most cops are good; the bad ones need to be identified and prosecuted.” It that quote is complete and not taken out of context, it shows an unfortunate lack of understanding by Biden of the policing problem.
This is not primarily a matter of good cops or bad cops. Of course, as Biden said, most cops are good and the bad ones must be identified and prosecuted.
But the problem goes further. It goes to the institutional racism present in many police departments. It goes to methodologies of subduing a possible suspect that go beyond reasonable force. It goes to the virtual free rein given police officers as they go about their jobs.
I would not argue for defunding or even reduced funding for police departments. They have a valid function to perform and they need the dollars and manpower to do it. But how they go about that function must be cleansed of all racism and toleration of excessive force.
There is a valid reason why the police are often considered the enemy by people of color. The police must serve and protect all citizens equally so that this conflict between the police and those they are sworn to serve and protect ceases to be.
If Biden has gotten boxed into defending the police status quo because of progressive calls to defund, that shows a lack of analytic thinking on his part and his staff. There is a middle ground. As I stated above, I am not for defunding the police, but I insist on effective, practical police reform.
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