Biden says he would work with police chiefs, community leaders to hold officers more accountable
![Joe Biden at the CNN town hall in Scranton.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tAejwosZa2xy2BY5G5xLPk-415-80.jpg)
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said during Thursday night's CNN Presidential Town Hall in Scranton that if elected president, he will ensure that police reforms will be made by putting together a coalition of police chiefs, officers, unions, and civil rights and community leaders.
They will "sit at a table and agree on the fundamental things that have to be done, including much more rigorous background checks [for those] that apply for and become officers," Biden said. He called the "vast majority" of police officers "decent, honorable people," adding that "one of the things I've found is, the only people who don't like bad cops more than we don't like them are police officers. And so what we have to do is we have to have a much more transparent means by which we provide for accountability within police departments."
Moderator Anderson Cooper asked Biden about one of author Bob Woodward's recent interviews with President Trump, during which Woodward asked Trump if he benefited from white privilege. "No, I don't feel that way at all," Trump responded. Biden said he feels the opposite way, and did benefit "just because I don't have to go through what my Black brothers and sisters have had to go through."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Biden pivoted and began talking about classism, and how "growing up here in Scranton, we're used to guys who look down their nose at us. We are used to people looking at us and thinking more suckers, look at us and think that we're not equivalent to them. If you didn't have a college degree, you must be stupid." This is the wrong attitude to have, Biden said, adding, "We are as good as anybody else, and guys like Trump who inherited everything and squandered what they inherited are the people that I've always had a problem with, not the people who are busting their neck."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
When families cross the aisle against presidential candidates
In The Spotlight Tim Walz's cousins, Donald Trump's niece and nephew, RFK Jr.'s siblings: When it comes to running for office, blood is not necessarily thicker than water
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Boeing's Starliner to come home empty
Speed Read Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore will return on a SpaceX spacecraft in February
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Hunter Biden pleads guilty to tax charges
Speed Read In an unexpected move, President Joe Biden's son pleads guilty to tax fraud and avoids a trial
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump criminal trial starts with rulings, reminder
Speed Read The first day of his historic trial over hush money payments was mostly focused on jury selection
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Parents of school shooter sentenced to 10-15 years
Speed Read Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first parents to be convicted in a US mass shooting
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Unlicensed dealers and black market guns
Speed Read 68,000 illegally trafficked guns were sold in a five year period, said ATF
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Bankman-Fried gets 25 years for fraud
Speed Read Former "crypto king" Sam Bankman-Fried will report to federal prison
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Feds raid Diddy homes in alleged sex trafficking case
Speed Read Homeland Security raided the properties of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Goon Squad' cops sentenced for torturing 2 Black men
Speed Read The former Mississippi law enforcement officers pleaded guilty last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Michigan shooter's dad guilty of manslaughter
speed read James Crumbley failed to prevent his son from killing four students at Oxford High School in 2021
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Shooting at Chiefs victory rally kills 1, injures 21
Speed Read Gunfire broke out at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade in Missouri
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published