US President Donald Trump, during a roundtable with members of law enforcement at White House, said that there would be no defunding or dismantling of police departments.
“There won’t be defunding, there won’t be dismantling of our police. And there’s not going to be any disbanding of our police, our police have been letting us live in peace,” Trump was quoted as saying by CNN.
The US President further stated that 99 per cent of police officers are “great people”. “Sometimes you’ll see some horrible things like we witnessed recently but 99, I say 99.9, but let’s go with 99 per cent of them are great great people and they’ve done jobs that are record-setting,” Trump said.
Earlier, the President in a tweet said: “This year has seen the lowest crime numbers in our Country’s recorded history, and now the Radical Left Democrats want to Defund and Abandon our Police. Sorry, I want LAW & ORDER!”
The death of George Floyd on May 25 has sparked a worldwide movement against police brutality, racism and social injustice, as a video showing a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd’s neck after the latter had been arrested, was widely circulated online on the next day.
Activists have been calling for defunding of US police departments and redirecting funds to other areas to help communities, such as education and housing, reported Sputnik.
Meanwhile, Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin appeared virtually in a Minneapolis court on Monday (local time), where the Judge Jeannice Reding granted prosecutor’s motion to set unconditional bail at $1.25 million, or $1 million with conditions, reported CNN.
According to the report, those conditions include being law-abiding, making future appearances, not working in a security or law enforcement capacity, surrendering firearms or ammunition and any firearm permit, not to leave Minnesota, and no contact with George Floyd’s family.
Asian News International