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We must fund our police

Ed Townsend - Columnist
Posted 6/29/20

One almost gets the feeling put forth by the liberal media that police reform is popular while rioting is also OK.

It's true that Americans of different racial backgrounds have much different …

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We must fund our police

Posted

One almost gets the feeling put forth by the liberal media that police reform is popular while rioting is also OK.

It's true that Americans of different racial backgrounds have much different feelings about police.

The feelings from 73 percent of African Americans believe police might be too quick to resort to deadly force and 64 percent are not held accountable for misconduct if it happens.

Nationwide surveys show that 65 percent of whites believe police use deadly force only when necessary and 57 percent generally feel they are held accountable for bad behavior.

The racial divide in perceptions largely vanishes when it comes to policy reforms.

The survey showed 79 percent of Americans support having outside law enforcement agencies investigate police misconduct, 89 percent support police wearing body cameras and 67 percent support banning neck restraints as a police tactic.

It's also useful to keep in mind that few Americans of any racial group support calls to abolish or not fund the police and only 16 percent of Americans favor cutting funding for police departments.

Locally, Mike Pitt, an official of Teamsters Local 445, which represents police officers in Orange, Sullivan, Ulster and Dutchess counties is urging the state and local politicians “to give police a seat at the table and a hand in crafting any reform.”

Pitt in a press release said New York State is “characterizing the entire police as a whole instead of just concentrating on the one or two bad apples, and it's not fair to everybody because there are very, very good cops in this area who do a very good job and I believe the majority of the public would want them to be funded and remain doing what they are now, and that is protecting.”

Ed Townsend provides year around "Beyond The News"coverage in this column with over 60-years of photojournalism analysis and insight. The column can also be read on his Web blog at http://bght.blogspot.com

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