President Biden was elected following what’s arguably been the largest movement against police brutality in U.S. history. Despite some of his campaign claims, his history supporting mass incarceration made it no surprise that he took office with a pro-police agenda that we’re now seeing unfold.
Biden said that he wanted to give the police even more funding than President Trump would! They both accused each other of wanting to defund the police. However Biden won, and now he’s following through with his plan to “reinvigorate” a troubling plan.
Biden wants to take $300 million to put new “community policing” officers on the streets through the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services – also known as “COPS.” There’s a bad history here, though, that’s directly connected to Biden’s past.
The office was established in 1994 following Biden and Clinton’s Crime Bill, and it never truly defined what “community policing” actually is. Furthermore, Department of Justice grants like this are typically tied to funding militarization and racist police abuse! This is no accident, either.
So-called “community policing” is a repetitive reform that grants police more funding while they commit the same violations. Movements to defund and abolish the police are important, because we deserve resources directly for our communities instead of just handing it to the police.