Biden in uphill battle for high ground on crime: Aim for the 'leg'

FPI / June 4, 2020

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in recent days has attempted to enunciate his plans to reform America's police departments.

“Congressman Jeffries has a bill to outlaw chokeholds. Congress should put it on President Trump’s desk in the next few days," Biden said at Philadelphia City Hall on Tuesday, referring to New York Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.

Jeffries introduced the legislation in 2015 after the death of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man who died in police custody after being restrained in a chokehold.

Biden, who as a senator authored laws that led to mass incarceration in America, has vowed to address institutional racism during his first 100 days in office if he wins the White House in November. He also said he would support the formation of a police oversight commission.

“Bad cops should be dealt with severely and swiftly,” he said.

Biden will almost certainly clinch the 2020 Democratic nomination for president in next week's Georgia primary.

On Monday, Biden said police should be trained to shoot individuals posing a threat to them “in the leg instead of the heart.”

“Instead of standing there and teaching a cop when there’s an unarmed person coming at them with a knife or something, shoot them in the leg instead of in the heart,” Biden said, going on to argue that “There’s a lot of different things that can change” in police training.

Biden has been dogged throughout his 2020 campaign for his support of the 1994 crime bill, the tough-on-crime legislation that has been blamed for widespread targeting and imprisonment of racial minorities.

Biden also took a swipe at President Donald Trump's walk to St. John's Church on Monday: "When peaceful protesters are dispersed by the order of the president from the doorstep of the people’s house, the White House, using tear gas and flash grenades in order to stage a photo op at a noble church, we can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle."

The U.S. Park Police said no tear gas was used on the demonstrators.

Free Press International