Vice President Joe Biden called for increased funding to law enforcement to facilitate police reform during a Monday night NBC News townhall.
Biden’s statement comes as President Donald Trump clashes with the Black Lives Matter movement and some Democrats who have called for abolishing or defunding the police. Trump has long argued that Biden seeks to defund the police, but the challenger has yet to call for such a measure, instead saying police should have increased funding for things like “sensitivity training.”
As president, I’ll do what I’ve always done in the past: bring people together.
Peaceful protesters, police officers, unions, and civil rights groups — we’ll all sit down at the White House. pic.twitter.com/qk4Nh65UIC
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 6, 2020
“They need more help,” Joe Biden says in response to a town hall question about police reform and the kinds of changes departments need. “They need more money.”
— Christopher Cadelago (@ccadelago) October 6, 2020
Biden argued that the vast majority of police officers do their jobs honorably, but said they need to be better equipped to deal with certain issues they might be called to.
Biden’s answer came in response to a woman whose husband is a police officer. (RELATED: Amy Coney Barrett To Joe Biden — Here’s Every Politician, Aide And Supporter We Know Trump And Hope Hicks Met With Last Week)
“When your husband goes on a call that is in fact a 911 call, it’s better if he or she has with them a psychologist or psychiatrist with them, someone who knows how to deal with someone who’s not all there,” Biden said. “In addition to that, I’m also proposing that we spend significantly more money on community policing.”
Trump has made law and order a central pillar of his campaign as protests and riots against the killing of George Floyd in Minnnesota, Breonna Taylor in Georgia, and others have spread across the country.
Biden has taken a stark lead over Trump in polls since the pair first squared off in a debate last week, after which Trump contracted the coronavirus. Biden currently leads the race by 14 points, according to NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.