Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” network host Symone Sanders Townsend said she disagrees that more police make streets safer while discussing President Donald Trump’s takeover of the Washington, D.C, police force with an emergency declaration.
Sanders Townsend said, “We are really adding to the fearmongering, in my opinion, and amping up the rhetoric when we should be tamping it down, because Donald Trumphas given us rhetoric and not the reality.”
Co-host Joe Scarborough said, “You don’t think more police make streets safer?”
Sanders Townsend said, “No, Joe, I’m a black woman in America. I do not always think that more police make streets safer. When you walk down the streets of Georgetown, you don’t see a police officer on every corner, but you don’t feel unsafe. So what is it about talking about places like Southeast CDC, right? Ward 8, if you will, that people say, ‘Well, we need more officers to make us safe.’ I think we have to rethink what safety means in America.”
Scarborough said, “Well, you know, there have been black city council members in New York City when people were talking about defunding the police, saying the people we represent are the people who need police officers the most.”
Sanders Townsend said, “I agree defund the police is never good. I never supported defund. I think you’re making a good point, Joe. I want to be able to call the police in my neighborhood, and when they come, I don’t want them to think that I’m a suspect. But what we are talking about is that the president of the United States is saying that there is a crime emergency in Washington, D.C. An emergency could be anything that he says it is.”
Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN
