President Joe Biden on Thursday said "the answer is not to defund the police" during a speech promoting his administration's work against gun violence in New York City.
During his remarks at NYPD headquarters, Biden addressed New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who spent 20 years with the department, saying, "You and I agree, the answer is not to abandon our streets, that's not the answer.
"The answer is to come together, police and communities, building trust and making us all safer. The answer is not to defund the police, it's to give you the tools, the training, the funding to be partners, to be protectors, and the community needs you," Biden said.
He went on to push for additional funding for community policing, the U.S. Marshals, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
"We're not about defunding, we're about funding and providing the additional services you need beyond someone with a gun strapped to their shoulder," Biden added.
He also called for more social workers and mental healthcare professionals to work alongside officers.
"We need more people who when you're called on these scenes and someone's about to jump off a roof, there's not just someone standing there with a weapon, it's also someone who knows how to talk to people, talk them down," Biden said.
"We can't expect [police] to do every single solitary thing that needs to be done to keep a community safe," he continued.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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