Charles Barkley Quotes

As mayor, I would support law enforcement, not knock it down.

Law enforcement must be guardians in our communities, not warriors against our own people.

Not every officer is a bad police. I work with police officers. I know first responders.

Society questions the police and their methods, and the police say, Do you want the criminals off the street or not?

We have to have a national conversation about how police forces should interact with the African-American community, who happens to be paying their salary, who want to be served and protected, who these officers are take an oath to do so.

We need the cops, especially in the black community.

There's a larger conversation we need to have about the role of police officers, their relationship to the people as enemy or executioner, when they're not supposed to be either.

If the Los Angeles Police Department had enough officers, it could focus on one part of the community and stay there long enough to know and respect the people the officers are called on to protect and serve.

Growing up where I'm from, some people are afraid of cops. They don't really like cops. And what a lot of people don't realize is, they're really not the bad guys. They're really on our side, they're really trying to help us out. And sometimes, we don't understand that.

I do not support the idea of defunding police departments. I believe that it does nothing to solve the root problems we must address and it makes our communities less safe.

Cops should not be separate from the black community or any community. Their salaries are paid for by the communities they police. They should be working for the communities they police. But as we saw in Ferguson, Missouri, they are not always doing that.

In Baltimore they can't do police work to save their lives. Now because of Freddie Gray they're not even getting out of the car and policing corners - they're on a job slowdown, basically. Right now if the police stopped being brutal, if we got police shooting under control, and the use of excessive force, if we have a meaningful societal response to all that stuff, and the racism that underlies it, the question still remains: what are they policing, and why?

Law enforcement in America is a force for good.

Let's talk about policing and public safety. Let's debate what works and what does not. We must abandon practices that do not work, and do more of the things that actually do work to save lives.

What we need in our countries is a good police force with a civilian mentality and some cheap light arms, not an army that needs to maintain its power with sophisticated weapons

I don't like the idea that the police department seems bent on keeping a pool of unarmed victims available for the predations of the criminal class.

In order for us to respect law enforcement, it is necessary for law enforcement to respect us.

We are safer when communities respect the police and the police respect the communities.

When I talk to Chicagoans who live in our most violence-prone neighborhoods, they do not hate the police. In fact, they tell me they want more cops and fewer gangs. They do not want more officers in cars just driving through their communities. They want officers on the beat in their neighborhoods.

Police reform is working, and crime is falling.

We can define the rules of police-citizen engagement, but everyday decisions will always be made by men and women in uniform, on the street, in the community, under extreme pressure, in a dangerous world where guns easily fall into the wrong hands.

At a policy level, we can support protecting and serving as opposed to militarization or disproportionate response. Step one is making sure we don't militarize and actually call for a review of military equipment in New York police forces.

As liberals in charge and a media question the capabilities of police, they then limply ask why there is an anti-police atmosphere or why cops are holding back.

While we must condemn any misuse of their authority, let's not forget that, by far, police are fulfilling their duty to protect and serve.

Our neighborhoods are safer when there is trust between communities and the police who are in charge of protecting them.