Police groups say ‘defunding the police’ was not proposed in reform talks, counter to GOP senator’s claim

“Despite some media reports, at no point did any legislative draft propose ‘defunding the police,’” the groups said in their statement. “In fact, the legislation specifically provided additional funding to assist law enforcement agencies in training, agency accreditation, and data collection initiatives. It is our joint belief that the provisions under discussion would have strengthened the law enforcement profession and helped improve the state of community police engagement without compromising management and officers’ rights, authorities, and legal protections.”