Valerie Jarrett, a longtime Obama adviser, argued that law enforcement might need more funding, not less, amid growing calls to defund the police.
“Democracy depends upon having law enforcement,” Jarrett told TIME magazine. “I might argue you might need more money for law enforcement — in recruitment, and training, adding equipment, maybe body cameras, other types of resources that are available so that the public can see what’s going on.”
Activists furious over police brutality and racial injustice have offered the solution of defunding law enforcement to fix the issues. There are various interpretations about what defunding the police would look like. Some supporters want to reallocate police funding to social services in marginalized communities. Others want to strip all police funding and disband the departments.
“The challenge here is that much of our law enforcement we know is not just,” Jarrett said.
“The question is, are we really using our law enforcement in a way that is fair and just and that builds this bond of trust?” she continued. “And I think that’s a much more complicated question than simply, should we cut their funding or not.”
