On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Ingraham Angle,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) stated that there have been conversations among Republicans about the police reform legislation pushed by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) in 2020 and there are some things the federal government can do, but that issues around the “absolutely horrific” death of Tyre Nichols ultimately have to be solved by local police departments and every issue can’t be nationalized.
Donalds said, “The sense right now, first, is, obviously, what we all saw in that video was absolutely horrific, shouldn’t happen. Some of the conversations actually have…come around Sen. Tim Scott’s bill, the JUSTICE Act, something that came up during 2020, and it was the Republican response to actually do things like provide more funding for training, more funding for body cams, things like that to actually help with the training apparatuses, unlike what some people are calling for, which is the George Floyd Act from that time period.”
He added, “Look, the members of Congress, what we have to understand is that you can’t nationalize every issue. What happened in Memphis was heinous. It was awful. But the reality is, the local police department is the one that’s got to solve these problems. They have to look at their training standards. They have to look at their hiring practices. Every law enforcement agency has to do that. Specific to Washington, there are…a handful of remedies we can probably do. We could probably help a lot of these police departments with equipment and training. But you can’t solve those problems for them from Capitol Hill. Law enforcement will continue to be a local issue in every community, and communities have to come together and solve it.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett