While now calling for police reform in the wake of protest over George Floyd's death in police custody, presumptive Democratic White House nominee Joe Biden staunchly supported police unions while in the U.S. Senate.
Biden once supported a Police Officer's Bill of Rights, according to CNN, that was supported by the National Association of Police Chiefs, the National Sheriffs' Association and other rank-and-file organizations.
Supporters said it provided a uniform set of protections for police officers in the face of internal investigations. The legislation was eventually incorporated into a larger 1991 crime bill.
A Biden campaign spokesperson told CNN, “As Joe Biden underscored when he held his very first rally of this campaign in a Pittsburgh union hall, he has spent his career fighting for workers’ right to unionize and for fundamental workplace rules with respect to any profession. That’s what this effort, backed by (the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) and a host of Democratic congressional leaders ranging from then-Representative Sherrod Brown to Representative Jim Clyburn to then-Representative Chuck Schumer, was all about.”
The bill would have placed restrictions on how, when and where officers could be interviewed by their own departments, while also mandating that any investigation could use only one interrogator; it also allowed that officers would be advised, in advance and in writing, if and why they were being investigated.
On Wednesday, Biden acknowledged that questions raised about his support for a 1994 crime bill are “legitimate” but insisted people judge him based on his current actions, not his past.
Speaking during a virtual NAACP forum, Biden responded to questions that the moderator said were from young voters concerned about his role in writing the bill when he was a senator from Delaware. Critics say the tough-on-crime bill contributed to the mass incarceration of racial minorities in recent decades.
Biden, growing testy, acknowledged that “it’s a legitimate concern; they should be skeptical.” But he also said that while he’s been “told all along” that young people oppose his past stances on criminal justice issues, “there is no polling evidence to sustain that. Nor is there voting evidence thus far to sustain that.”
Black voters remain key to Democrats’ chances for victory this fall, and Biden has engaged in a concerted outreach effort to the black community, releasing a plan focused on black economic mobility and racial disparities in health care and education systems earlier this year.
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He has also issued a criminal justice plan that reverses a number of key provisions of the crime bill and has apologized for supporting some policies in the 1990s that he now says were harmful.
But some black voters are still angered by his past stances on criminal justice issues and have questioned whether his proposed reforms go far enough.
Credit: AJC
While there is little chance black voters will support President Donald Trump in significant numbers — 6% of black voters supported Trump in 2016, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of people who participated in its polls and were confirmed to have voted — there are concerns they may stay home, which could make the difference in a number of states key to Democrats’ White House hopes.
Still, Biden predicted Wednesday night Democrats may be poised to take back control of the Senate this fall, if the current political climate continues.
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As Floyd’s death in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests and a renewed push for criminal justice and policing reform, Biden has spoken out more forcefully for the need to address systemic racism, and he reiterated his call for a number of police reforms first outlined in his criminal justice plan last summer.
But Biden has been diverging from activists pushing to “defund the police,” arguing an overhaul of policing can be accomplished within existing law enforcement agencies.
A Biden presidential campaign aide said the Democrat “hears and shares the deep grief and frustration of those calling out for change” after Floyd’s death, but added Biden “does not believe that police should be defunded,” as some Minneapolis authorities are pursuing locally and some activists are demanding nationally.
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The “defund the police” mantra has gained steam among some protesters and progressive activists since Floyd’s death, potentially complicating Biden’s ability to satisfy a splintered movement demanding differing levels of changes in policing practices. And it highlights a familiar exercise for Biden: trying to appeal to a progressive flank that distrusts him as an establishment politician while not alienating more moderate voters and even some Republicans who don’t want Trump reelected.
The Republican incumbent, who is postured as a “law and order” figure and urged federal and state authorities to “dominate” protesters, has seized on the latest dynamics, casting “defund the police” as the official rallying cry for Biden and all Democrats.
Biden’s criminal justice agenda, released long before he became the Democrats’ presumptive nominee, includes more federal money for “training that is needed to avert tragic, unjustifiable deaths” and hiring additional officers to ensure that departments are racially and ethnically reflective of the populations they serve.
Specifically, he calls for a $300 million infusion into existing federal community policing grant programs. And he pledges to continue Obama administration practices of scrutinizing what equipment is used by law enforcement, a nod to critics of U.S. domestic police agencies using military-grade equipment in encounters with civilians.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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