In an interview on Sunday, 2020 Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris, said that under a Joe Biden administration, she would be “more progressive” on police reform.

Harris was asked on Showtime’s Desus & Mero program, “When you get into office, what can we expect from you and Biden and are you going to be more progressive as far as what people are asking about the cops?”

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She replied, “Yes, and I’m going to tell you why.”

 

Harris: ‘Biden And I Are Committed…’

Harris vowed that law enforcement would be held more accountable,

“So first of all, in a criminal justice system, there’s this phrase accountability and consequence that almost always comes up when people are talking about the person arrested, but never about the system itself and the people who work in the system,” Harris said.

“Biden and I are committed to saying everybody needs to be held accountable, even when they wear a uniform and wear a badge and carry a gun,” she continued.

Harris claimed that she has been “out there marching” with Black Lives Matter protesters.

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“And you know, I’ve been out there marching with folks, and speaking the name of not only Mr. Floyd, but Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud, Jacob Blake, I met with his family, as did Joe Biden,” she said. “It’s got to stop. It has to stop.”

Harris then explained why she believes that these protests are unlike anything we have ever witnessed.

“Frankly one of the things that has made people more aware of it is because now we’re all carrying in our back pocket a video camera and a tape recorder,” Harris said. “And so now the rest of the world is seeing what we have grown up knowing from the beginning.”

 

“And I think that’s what’s giving fuel to the movement is that we don’t just have to tell people stuff that nobody else witnessed,” she added. “Now the world is witnessing it in vivid detail. And the system’s get to be held accountable.”

Harris then said a Biden administration would seek nationwide standards on the use of force, including banning chokeholds.

“Part of our plan is what we need to do around a number of things,” Harris said. “One, having a national standard on use of force. Part of the problem with why police officers who break the rules and break the law aren’t held accountable in a court is because when a case gets to court, the question is, was that use of force reasonable?”

 

“The problem with that is that you can reason away just about anything,” she went on. “What we’re saying is that the question should be was that use of force necessary, right?”

“Part of what we’re saying is that there needs to be a ban on chokeholds and karotid holds,” she added. “George Floyd would be alive today if that were the case. Part of what we’re saying is there needs to be a national registry of police officers who break the rules and break the law.”

“Why? Because in many jurisdictions, when they commit misconduct, the case doesn’t go to a court, but it goes to an administrative hearing where they’re fired, right?” Harris continued. “And then they can move to a new jurisdiction or a new state where their record doesn’t follow them.”

Harris declared, “So we’re saying there needs to be a national registry. We’re also saying there needs to be pattern and practice investigations.”

Harris And Biden Are Playing Catchup Ball

Harris and Biden have had heat from progressives within their party for having records that haven’t been kind to non-violent offenders. Both have espoused “law and order” more than criminal or police reform their entire careers, particularly Biden’s role in the 1994 Crime Bill.

Now that the tone of the Democratic Party has shifted dramatically in the opposite direction, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden appear to doing everything they can to assure their base that they have changed their ways.

Should either of them actually make it to the White House come January, everyone will see how much they really mean it – for good or ill.

In the meantime, let the record show that Donald Trump was the first president of the modern era to pass major criminal justice reform legislation with the passage of the historic First Step Act.

This piece originally appeared in ThePoliticalInsider.com and is used by permission.

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