In 2020, our country had a racial reckoning, again, with police and their practices. Major cities protested the death of George Floyd that was captured on camera — his neck under a Minneapolis officer’s knee.
This all happened 30 years after video captured the police beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. Both of these Black men’s deaths sparked outrage and calls for police reform that, still, has not happened.
In an ABC News 4 exclusive, Good Morning Charleston anchor Leah Uko spoke with South Carolina Senator Tim Scott about why fixing issues within the law enforcement industry is proving to be a difficult task.
Scott, who is the only Black republican in the United States was partly in charge of the federal effort to get police reform passed. Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and Representative Karen Bass of California led the democratic negotiations.
In September, these prominent African American lawmakers ended their bipartisan push to make sweeping changes on police reform.
“Should people keep their confidence in you guys that you can get the job done?” Uko asked Sen. Scott.
Scott, speaking from his office in Washington, did not directly answer whether voters should stay confident, but explained his issues with Democrats’ proposals.
“We cannot reduce funding for law enforcement. I am not going to support that. We’re going to have to find a way to increase funding for law enforcement as we’re looking at a 50-year high in violent crime that is negatively impacting disproportionately, minority communities.”
He blamed democrats for the failed negotiations — saying cities mostly led by liberal mayors and city council members refuse to realize that high-standard policing requires more, not less funding.
“And number two, you cannot federalize local policing,” he continued. “I think if we can eliminate those two barriers, I think we have a deal.”
The three did agree on banning chokeholds (used in the death of Eric Garner in New York in 2014), adding millions of dollars to police departments to help with data collection and mental health resources and limiting the transfer of military equipment.
Scott’s main issues were a proposal to criminalize departments of excessive use of force and making an executive order former president Donald Trump signed into law.
He confirmed he rejected those proposals because he wanted police standards to be held accountable at state and local levels, not by the feds.
Uko asked, “Does the law enforcement community in South Carolina have an influence in you feeling that way? I know they’ve been very vocal about not taking away their funding and not putting the oversight at the federal level. Is that why—with you representing South Carolina?”
“Federalizing all local policing when we have 300 plus departments in South Carolina and 16,000 across the country, not expecting that the state or the local government cares more about their citizens than folks living in Washington,” Scott answered. “That's just antithetical to common sense from my perspective.”
The White House may now step in at the request of Rep. Bass.
On her website, a statement urges President Joe Biden to “use the full extent of their constitutionally-mandated power to bring about meaningful police reform.”
“What will you do if the Biden administration decides to listen to representative Bass and just step in and do what they want to do with executive action?’ Uko asked Scott.
“What I would tell president Biden is that we have failed twice because you all have walked away from the table. If you think you could have addressed this issue on your own, you could have already done that on the local level, the county level, the state level, and you have failed.”