US elections 2020: Joe Biden promises police reforms if elected

As protests against police brutality continue to batter the US, Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden, on September 26, promised to introduce reforms in the department. Speaking at MSNBC, the 77-year-old announced that if he is elected, he would create a federal commission to work on a policy covering excessive use of force by law enforcement officers.

With just 36 days left for the US Presidential elections, Biden and his opponent Donald Trump are pulling all the stops to woo voters. Earlier this month, Biden promised to create a national commission on policing based in the White House. His remarks come as reported cases of police brutality in America have risen manifold.

Police brutality on rise

On May 25, an African American citizen George Floyd was suffocated to death after he was pinned to the ground by a federal official. Another case, that made headlines is the shooting of Breonna Taylor. Taylor was an emergency medical worker who was shot multiple times by white officers who entered her home on a ‘no-knock’ warrant during a narcotics investigation. 

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Meanwhile, Biden has reputedly stressed that reforms in US policing methods are long overdue. Speaking during a virtual NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) town hall event on systemic racism, earlier this year, Biden said, "This is an inflexion moment in American history, a moment where we must make substantive changes now, changes in the American police is long overdue." The Democratic presidential candidate had also highlighted his proposals for additional community policing funds.

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Biden had also acknowledged the existence of systematic racism in the law enforcement forces in the United States. According to the former US Vice President, there are racial biases in people across the board including housing, education among other sectors. Biden said racism is “in everything we do” and added that “it is real”. 

Biden also stated that not all police officers are racist and there are some “really good cops” but there are too many examples for the public to understand how it all ‘works right now’. Therefore, in the televised interview with CBS, Biden called for a national standard for appropriate conduct for the law enforcement officers. 

Read: Biden: US Policing Reforms Long Overdue