Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) has suggested that his police reform talks with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) fell apart primarily because Democrats sought to defund the police by making departments ineligible for funding if they failed to meet certain criteria.
But a pair of prominent police organizations, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Fraternal Order of Police, appeared to push back against Scott's argument in a statement on Tuesday, though the senator wasn't mentioned by name. "Despite some media reports, at no point did any legislative draft propose 'defunding the police,'" the statement reads. "In fact, the legislation specifically provided additional funding to assist law enforcement agencies in training, agency accreditation, and data collection initiatives."
Those provision would have helped strengthen law enforcement improve community police engagement "without compromising management and officers' rights, authorities, and legal protections," the statement continues.