Bipartisan push to defund cities pushing to defund the police
Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi weigh in.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., and Rep. Anthony Brindisi, D-N.Y., joined "Your World" Thursday to discuss bipartisan legislation that pushed to dissuade cities and state against "defunding" law enforcement.
"What the bill says is that if a city moves to defund the police department, they want to abolish the police department or significantly cut funding to a police department...that would put them at risk of losing certain federal grants," Brindisi told guest host Charles Payne.
"And I think we have to step back and acknowledge that our law enforcement does, by and large, very good work. Most officers serve with dignity and respect. And these are very difficult times that our country is going through right now. We should be having conversations about how we reform policing and improve relations."
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"However, I don't think we should be doing that at the expense of cutting back on things like community engagement programs or body cameras, which hold bad actors accountable, or on training, which police need to be able to protect and serve," the Democrat form New York added.
Fitzpatrick expressed the importance of a bipartisan effort, adding that police officers are "under assault" and that reforms are needed but in a "responsible way.
"I'm a career FBI agent. I spent my entire adult life in law enforcement. And my goal was to build bipartisan coalition here in Washington, D.C., to make sure that we have a voice defending our police officers," Fitzpatrick said. "They are under assault right now and they need our support. Do we need to make reforms? Of course we do. And our coalition believes that that should happen and we will do that in a responsible manner."
"We need some voices of reason and they need to start speaking up," Fitzpatrick added.
Brindisi expressed his worry that police departments would lose funding for the very programs that will help community relations.
"When you start cutting back, the first thing the departments will start cutting are things like community policing, community engagement programs, training, things like that, gear that is necessary for officer safety," Brindisi said. "And these are all things that are important, body cameras, that are important to help protect and improve relations between the police departments and the communities that they serve."
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"And I'm all for investing in mental health and education. I think our officers are being asked to do way more than they have to right now," Brindisi said. "They're becoming educators, health care professionals, mental health counselors."
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