“They eliminated the funding for community policing.”
During a town hall hosted by ABC News, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden touted the Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, program, which was enacted as part of the 1994 crime bill.
The 1994 bill, which Biden spearheaded, included some provisions on prosecution and sentencing that have recently been criticized for exacerbating criminal justice disparities for minority groups. But at the town hall, Biden highlighted other parts of the law that have been more popular.
The idea behind community policing was to develop new policing strategies focused on engaging officers members of the community on their beat, rather than seeming like an occupying force.
In an exchange with host George Stephanopoulos in the Oct. 15 town hall, Biden lamented that “they eliminated the funding for community policing.”
Biden was vague about who eliminated the funding, and when. Either way, he’s wrong about the elimination of funding.
Read the rest at: politifact.com
