Progressive Harris Tiptoed Around "Defund The Police" With Her "Reimagining Public Safety"

Presidential candidate Kamala Harris brings to the table her training as a lawyer, experience as a prosecutor and attorney general, years as a senator, and a term as the vice president. While her campaign is doing all it can to showcase her as "tough and smart on crime," it is a fact that her record and opinions do not appeal to many Americans.

Like her unbridled support for the California truancy law, Harris has many other penchants that do not find favor with many Americans. One such critical issue is her well-documented support of the "defund the police" movement.

The call to "defund" and "demilitarize" the American police force that safeguards our streets and communities gained momentum in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd and the ensuing Black Lives Matter riots. As civil unrest rocked many parts of the country, disrupting peace and damaging public property, the liberal Left blamed the police for the chaos. The law enforcement was painted as the villain, and some ultra-liberals even wanted to do away with the force.

Thankfully, the presidential hopeful Harris has not gone to such extremes, but she has not hid her enthusiastic support for the movement. A senator at the time, Harris said at the "JusticeCon: A Path Towards Freedom" in June 2020:

We have to reimagine how we achieve public safety, understanding that the best way to do that is invest in communities, and in particular, the educational needs, economic needs, or public-health needs, mental-health needs, and so on.

While there may be merit in investing in communities and promoting social programs that reduce crime, it is common sense that such initiatives cannot replace or take over the role of law enforcement. The results of such efforts will take years to become visible, and the outcomes cannot be reliably predicted to start "defunding" the police or diverting their allocated budgets. Bear in mind that the then-senator was proposing such experiments in 2020 when the murder rate saw a significant increase of nearly 30% and violent assaults rose by more than 10%.

Interestingly, her vociferous support for the movement continued until she landed on Joe Biden's 2020 ticket as the vice president pick. In an instant, Harris realized that such ultra-progressive narratives would only turn the voters against her. Though many, like Mitch Landrieu, national co-chair for the Biden-Harris campaign and former mayor of New Orleans, tried to defend Harris's position, saying, "Her position has always been that you can both be tough and smart on crime, and it requires funding police, but it also requires funding rehabilitation and things that might criminal justice system safer. You can do both." President Biden chose to distance himself from the "defund the police" movement.

The truth is that there was never any broad-spectrum support for reducing spending on the police force. A November 2023 TIPP Poll for the National Sheriffs Association showed that six in ten (60%) Americans opposed the movement. Furthermore, another 42% said the movement reduced their community's safety. A TIPP Poll from August of this year also showed similar results. Voters strongly opposed the idea, 64% to 27%. All major political parties opposed it: Democrats (52% oppose, 39% support), Republicans (76% to 17%), and independents (66% to 22%). Increasing crime rates nationwide due to local governments cutting police spending proved to be highly unpopular with voters.

With the next elections around the corner, the situation in the country is not much different from 2020. Pandemic years saw an uptick in crime. Thanks to the failed border czar, Harris, illegal immigrants are now swarming America's cities and small towns, stretching their budgets and resources thin. Noticeably, her campaign has been mostly silent on the issue. There has been no talk of "demilitarizing police departments," but she has not put forth many policy initiatives either.

Harris might remain quiet for a while to win the White House. But, does silence during the campaign season signal a change of heart for a seasoned politician dubbed the "fourth-most liberal senator from 2017 to 2019, based on many factors, including the bills she co-sponsored, and the second-most liberal from 2019 to 2021" by the nonpartisan GovTrack? Can a leopard change its spots?