WASHINGTON, D.C. (Network Indiana) — More cops equals less crime. That’s what was said by then Sen. Joe Biden in an op-ed in 2002 and Indiana Rep. Jim Banks says he agrees with that assertion.
However, the Hoosier Congressman says that’s not something now President Joe Biden would say today in claiming that Biden is “being held hostage” by progressive Democrats as they try to make efforts to defund police departments across the country.
Despite these claims from Banks, last week Biden unveiled a $350 billion a plan that allows cities and states to use money from the American Rescue Plan, to fight violent crime issues that they may be dealing with. Biden pointed out that the boost in funding will mean more police officers on the streets of many cities in the U.S.
Banks argues on Fox News that at this point funding is not the issue, but manpower is.
“You can give them more funding, and that’s good,” Banks said. “But, if (police departments) can’t recruit people to become a police officer because we’ve stigmatized one of the most honorable professions in America, then we are at a dangerous point.”
Banks, along with every Republican in Congress, voted against the American Rescue Plan.
He reiterated that pushes to ban “assault weapons” are also not an answer to solving problem with violent crime.
“We know that 75-percent of gun crimes are committed with guns that are illegally obtained to begin with,” said Banks. “What I’m saying is that if we are serious about reducing violent crime in America then Joe Biden will go on a national public relations campaign to admonish the radical voices in the Democrat Party that have stigmatized police officers and law enforcement.”
Biden was a proponent of an “assault weapons” ban passed in 1994 that was later repealed.
