Joe Biden Doubles Down On His Stance Against Defunding The Police

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) has some ideas about how to improve policing without defunding it.

Despite calls from activists to completely overhaul the policing system, the Democratic presidential nominee said he was against the concept in an op-ed published Wednesday, floating instead an additional $300 million investment in community policing as part of several proposals for police reform and rooting out systemic racism.

During an interview on “The Daily Show” Wednesday night, Biden doubled down on his stance against defunding police departments in the wake of nationwide protests opposing police brutality.

“Well, I think there are a lot of changes ― they can take place, period, without having to defund the police completely,” Biden told host Trevor Noah when asked to consider the campaign:

President Donald Trump has described the concept of defunding the police as a “radical left agenda” and used it as a tool to attack Biden and Democrats:

Biden suggested that conditions be imposed to create significant reforms, citing a “national use of force standard” and mandatory reporting of misconduct data to the Justice Department as two examples. He also pushed again for investment in community policing. 

“I think we should turn over as much as we can to non-armed police officers to de-escalate things related to mental illness, homelessness and drug abuse,” he added.