President Donald Trump held a roundtable discussion in Dallas on Thursday, announcing that he plans on signing an executive order in the coming days to address police use of force and de-escalation. But the executive order will likely not fully satisfy those hoping to "Defund the Police."
Trump’s announcement comes as a number of protesters are calling for a reduction in police funding, and to use funds for social and educational purposes, issues the president addressed during the roundtable.
“We’ll encourage pilot programs that allow social workers to join certain law enforcement officers so that they work together,” Trump said.
Trump also called for an expansion of school choice throughout the US, although such programs in the past have not received bipartisan support due to taking funds from public schools.
“Access to education is the civil rights issue of our time,” Trump said.
Expansion of school voucher programs has been part of Trump’s platform since the 2016 election, and one pushed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who is a former charter school operator.
But as far as reducing the size and scope of policing, it appears Trump will not give into those calls from protesters.
Trump said he will “take care of our police” moving forward.
“We’re not defunding police,” Trump said. “We’re going to go the other way.”
A common call among protesters is to reduce the access to military-like equipment, but Trump said that he will give police the “best equipment.”
Meanwhile, congressional Democrats are working toward a bill that would make it harder for local police forces to gain access to military-like vehicles as part of a sweeping police reform bill. The bill, however, does not go as far as proposing to defund the police.
