The Democrat’s platform for the future of policing relies heavily on the assumption that policing is currently being practiced in a manner that is fundamentally flawed.
While it may be a valid discussion to ensure that our law enforcement officers are carrying out their oaths with the utmost integrity, something politicians should be watched for too, the real challenges faced by police officers these days have more to do with the limits placed upon them by elected officials who adhere to this narrative and revolving door policies releasing criminals back out on the street almost as soon as they’re arrested and without bail.
Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden has voiced his support for the idea of sending a “psychologist or psychiatrist” along with police officers to respond to 911 calls.
Biden explained his position on Monday during an NBC Nightly News town hall-style event hosted by Lester Holt.
Biden said he’d support the introduction of such measures for the sake of diffusing situations involving the mentally ill.
“I’m gonna do what I’ve done in the past. I’m gonna bring all these interests together,” Biden said. “Peaceful protesters, police chiefs, police officers, the police unions, as well as civil rights groups in the White House and sit down and decide, what are the things that need to be done to improve and help police officers.
I have an idea of what might help cops, Joe. Stop suggesting crazy ideas. What’s next–is he going to suggest we stop sending police to these calls to begin with and send the shrinks in by themselves?
You know that’s not too far off.
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1313287779892301824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1313287779892301824%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bizpacreview.com%2F2020%2F10%2F07%2Fbiden-proposes-sending-a-psychologist-or-psychiatrist-with-police-officers-on-911-calls-981747
“I’m the only one who’s talked about increasing police budgets,” Biden went on to claim.
As you can imagine, this isn’t entirely accurate, as BizPac Review notes, in a June op-ed in USA Today, Biden simply proposed providing departments with “the resources they need” to implement reforms.
Such budget increases would be contingent upon adopting those reforms.
“When your husband goes on a call that in fact is a 911 call, it’s better if he or she has with them a psychologist or psychiatrist with them, someone who knows how to deal with someone who is not all there,” Biden explained further.
(Did anyone cry “sexism” that he didn’t say “or wife”? Aren’t his people all about putting women in the police force? No? Weird.)
“I also proposing [sic] that we spend a significant more money [sic] on community policing,” he continued. He explained he’d form a “national commission” to examine policing, something which should certainly concern you.
Biden has been pressed (albeit lightly) on his stance towards police reform as he has tried to clumsily walk the line between going soft on Antifa/BLM thugs and appealing to the slightly more moderate, vanilla wing of the ever-radicalizing Democrat party.
During the first presidential debate with President Donald Trump, “moderator” Chris Wallace did ask Biden of his previous comments to “re-imagine policing,” “What does re-imagining policing mean, and do you support the Black Lives Matter call for community control of policing?”
“What I support is the police having the opportunity to deal with the problems they face. They need more assistance. They need, when they show up for a 911 call, to have someone with them as a psychologist or psychiatrist, to keep them from having to use force and be able to talk people down,” Biden replied.
“We have to have community policing like we had before, where the officers get to know the people in the communities. That’s when crime went down. It didn’t go up; it went down,” the former VP added. Forgive Joe for forgetting that federal crime bills passed in 1984 and 1994 that led to the mass incarceration that Democrats complain about today had his fingerprints all over them. Crime didn’t go down because of community policing. It went down due to locking career criminals up for long sentences.
“Lock the S.O.B.s up”, he said. “The truth is,” Mr. Biden boasted in a speech on the Senate floor, “every major crime bill since 1976 that’s come out of Congress, every minor crime bill, has had the name of the Democrat Senator from the state of Delaware: Joe Biden.”
However, as BPR notes, not all police officers and authorities on law enforcement agree.
Gregory Hoyt at Law Enforcement Today has said of community policing that while it is a “good thing to champion,” sending a mental health professional along with police officers is not as rosy as it sounds.
In fact, he explains, “This notion of sending in the psychologist/psychiatrist squad on emergency calls poses not only potential calamities – but also seems impractical.”
You don’t say?
“One of the first things to take into account is the general safety of these sorts of professionals during emergency calls. If the likes of psychologists and psychiatrists find themselves getting dispatched on emergency calls, then they’re now one giant liability due to inserting themselves into possibly lethal scenarios involving dangerous individuals,” he continues.
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