Stacey Abrams Pushes for Raising Police Pay Amid Attack She Wants to Defund

Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate on this yr’s Georgia gubernatorial race, introduced on Thursday that she would push for a pay increase for the bottom salaries of legislation enforcement officers if she wins the election.

Abrams made the announcement on Twitter, the place she additionally included a web page on her web site that detailed her coverage plan. Her feedback got here after her opponent in November’s election, the incumbent Republican Governor Brian Kemp, launched an advert that claimed Abrams helps the “defund the police” motion. Abrams has stated she has by no means advocated for defunding legislation enforcement.

Kemp and Abrams are facing off in a rematch race after he narrowly defeated her within the 2018 election for Georgia governor. Abrams grew to become the Democratic nominee final month after she ran unopposed within the social gathering’s main, whereas Kemp gained a lopsided victory over former U.S. Senator David Perdue, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. The present Actual Clear Politics polling common reveals that Kemp leads Abrams by about 5.2 p.c. The governor is backed by a mean of 49.6 p.c of Georgia’s voters, in contrast with about 44.4 p.c who assist Abrams.

Kemp’s latest marketing campaign advert references an interview from June of 2020 that Abrams gave to CNN after a Black man named Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot by police in Atlanta. (The capturing got here throughout the peak of the George Floyd protests, which broke out throughout the nation after Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis.) Through the interview, Abrams indicated she supported reallocating some legislation enforcement funds however stopped wanting saying she backed defunding the police, saying such speak was a “media narrative that seeks to make overly simplistic selections.”

“Legislation enforcement are sometimes paid lower than a dwelling wage, and that’s incorrect,” Abrams tweeted on Thursday morning. “We should increase pay for officers and tackle violent crime as we work to construct group belief and foster legislation enforcement accountability.”

Abrams’ coverage plan reveals she would increase the bottom pay for Georgia state troopers, grownup and juvenile correctional officers and group supervision officers to $50,000 per yr and supply grants to localities to assist the elevated salaries. Elsewhere, the plan would “fortify coaching requirements” and require accountability for illegal violence and misconduct.

“Legislation enforcement in city, suburban and rural areas throughout Georgia battle with staffing shortages that put communities in danger. Increased officer pay will result in higher officer recruitment, higher officer retention, higher group interactions and a safer Georgia,” Abrams tweeted.

Abrams added that “[m]ost officers attempt to do their greatest, however those that commit misconduct should be held accountable. Specifically, the killing of younger Black males who posed no menace can’t be ignored.”

Earlier this month, Fox News reported that the Marguerite Casey Basis, a grant-making basis on which Abrams serves as a board member, had offered funds to organizations that backed teams devoted to ending police violence.

When contacted for remark, Tate Mitchell, Kemp’s press secretary, referred Newsweek to a Thursday assertion from his marketing campaign that referred to as on Abrams to resign from the governing board of the Marguerite Casey Basis.

Mitchell stated within the assertion concerning the Marguerite Casey Basis that “Stacey Abrams and her marketing campaign employees are doing the whole lot of their energy to erase her historical past of supporting and advocating for anti-police initiatives that put our women and men in legislation enforcement at extreme danger.”

On Wednesday, Kemp shared his new advert on Twitter that alleged Abrams helps defunding the police.

In an Axios story printed Thursday, Abrams acknowledged: “I don’t, and have by no means stated, and have by no means supported defunding the police.”

Newsweek reached out to Abrams for remark.