Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, made clear today in a statement that he would not support defunding the police. He did say there is an “urgent need for reform,” and he advocated for body-worn cameras and further diversification of the police force. The former vice president, according to the New York Times, is traveling today to Houston for the funeral of George Floyd.
This isn’t surprising news, exactly. Biden is a moderate. But it’s remarkable that he had to clarify his position at all. The Minneapolis City Council announced on Sunday it was disbanding the police to invest in community programs. Other municipalities are considering similar action. A world without cops, as our own Madison Pauly wrote about, is not only imaginable but increasingly something activists are putting on concrete lists of demands. Who would’ve thought a few weeks ago that Biden would have to specify that he supports keeping the cops around?
