Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has called for a socialist “political revolution,” said he doesn’t believe in abolishing police departments.
In an interview with the New Yorker, the Vermont independent and former presidential candidate was asked about his push for law enforcement reform which would see more resources and greater funding for police departments. When it was noted that some supporters of the “progressive movement” are dissatisfied with “calling for defunding or abolishing the police,” Sanders cut in to distance himself from growing calls from far-left activists to remove police from the streets altogether.
“Do I think we should not have police departments in America? No, I don’t. There’s no city in the world that does not have police departments,” said Sanders. “I think we want to redefine what police departments do, give them the support they need to make their jobs better defined. So I do believe that we need well-trained, well-educated, and well-paid professionals in police departments. Anyone who thinks that we should abolish all police departments in America, I don’t agree.”
Sanders insisted Congress should adopt “police-department reform on top of over-all criminal-justice reform,” which he said he proposed in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Nationwide protests have taken place for the past two weeks following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin was fired from the department and has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The three other officers who were involved in detaining Floyd, who was suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill, were also fired and charged with aiding and abetting murder.
In response, a veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council pledged to disband the police department on Sunday in a city home to approximately 430,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was told to “get the f— out” by a crowd of protesters on Saturday after saying he did not support abolishing the police.
Far-left members of Congress, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, have applauded the decision, while presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has resisted calls to join the anti-police movement.
“As his criminal justice proposal made clear months ago, Vice President Joe Biden does not believe that police should be defunded,” Biden spokesman Andrew Bates wrote in a statement on Monday.
