Congress is not the best place for a "one-size-fits-all" plan, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs said, adding that he is concerned about the calls to eliminate qualified immunity for police officers and several other provisions in a police reform bill introduced by Democrats.
"They were long on philosophy and platitudes but very short on specifics," the Arizona Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "We have to see the bill and read it of course ... I'm not sure Congress is the best place to provide a unique situation with a one-size-fits-all solution."
Biggs said that one thing that was mentioned was to eliminate qualified immunity for police officers, and he is concerned that move would scare potential candidates away from serving as officers. He also fears that it could increase crime, because nobody would want to put their own lives, plus the lives of their family, in trouble if they're forced to lose immunity.
Additionally, provisions that are being talked about will include training, including in de-escalation, and that is difficult to get approved, said Biggs.
"I would just tell you, when I introduced legislation to that multiple times in Arizona, we put it on the floor and not a single Democrat voted to support de-escalation training," said Biggs.
The bill also includes defunding police and taking away some equipment, said Biggs, and that becomes another serious issue.
"You're going to allow the police to be disadvantaged again like we saw in the '70s when we had high crime rates because they didn't have the equipment they needed," said Biggs. "If you need more training, defunding your police department means you're going to have less training."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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