When Vice President Kamala Harris ran for Attorney General of California in 2010, her ad production imitated the tense proficiency of a Law and Order episode.
‘Our justice system needs drastic repair,’ Harris said as she walked confidently with law enforcement officers, hair blowing in the wind as a helicopter buzzed overhead.
The ad, featuring a dramatic soundtrack, also included images of police officers putting criminals in cop cars as the narrator bolstered her career in law enforcement.
Harris has a long history of using her law enforcement record to boost her political career, but after ‘Kamala the Cop’ was rejected in the 2020 Democratic primary she pivoted away from her record in favor of defunding the police.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris arrives to brief the media after raids were conducted on money-laundering operations
After the death of George Floyd, Vice President Kamala Harris pivoted away from her law enforcement record to support defunding the police
Defunding the Police
Now that Harris is running for president, comments she made in the Summer of 2020 in response to questions about defunding the police are resurfacing.
Harris was repeatedly asked about the idea of defunding the police, and each time she did not push back on the idea, but rather demonstrated her commitment to shift funding away from law enforcement to other priorities.
‘We have to reimagine public safety in America,’ Harris said. ‘It’s been upside down, for too long, people have confused achieving public safety with putting more cops on the street,’ Harris said in an interview with Power 106 Los Angeles host Nick Cannon.
Harris proposed using funds typically earmarked for police officers to be redirected into public schools, to boost jobs, and fund health programs.
‘The way we achieve that is one, don’t spend over a third of the cities budget on policing when public schools need those resources,’ she said.
Harris also endorsed the “defund the police” movement in an interview with the hosts of the Ebro in the Morning show in June 2020.
‘For too long the status quo thinking is that you get more safety by putting more cops in the street, well that’s wrong,’ she said.
Harris also supported the concept in an interview with actress Laverne Cox in an interview with Andy Cohen.
‘For far too long the status quo thinking has been to believe that by putting more police on the street you’re going to have more safety. And that’s just wrong, that’s not how it works,’ Harris said.
District Attorney Kamala Harris walks into a San Francisco courtroom
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris greets emergency management and first responders
Activists criticize law enforcement record
What Harris did not mention is that she was one of those officials advocating for more police officers in the street during her law enforcement career.
In her 2009 book tiled ‘Smart on Crime,’ Harris spoke about the value of having more police officers in the streets.
“[I]f we take a show of hands of those who would like to see more police officers on the street, mine would shoot up,” she wrote.
‘A more visible and strategic police presence is a deterrent to crime and it has a positive impact on a community,’ she continued.
Kamala Harris’ 2009 book detailed proposals to add more cops to the streets of black neighborhoods
Harris continued this talking point well into her career as a California senator.
‘It’s a myth to suggest that certain communities don’t want police. They do,’ Harris said in February 2019 during an interview on the Daily Show.
As Attorney General, Harris frequently boasted she was the ‘Top Cop’ in the country, using her crime-fighting credentials as evidence she was ready for higher office.
But as more activists raised concerns with criminal justice and policing, Harris found that her record actually hurt her reputation with Democratic primary voters.
Harris dismissed concerns about her law enforcement record during an interview with Star Jones at a Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit in March 2019.
‘I think that part of what happens is, you know, there are those especially in this race especially as it is gearing up, people are going to say, “Oh you know, Kamala is po-po,“’ she said, bursting into laughter.
Harris appeared flippant in response activists who were concerned about her law enforcement record.
Activists questioned her record of prosecuting parents of truant children, stonewalling Black Lives Matter activists, and jailing people for using marijuana.
Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard criticized Harris’ record in devastating fashion during a Democratic presidential primary debate.
‘Senator Harris says she’s proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she’ll be a prosecutor president,’ Gabbard said, citing Harris’ record of jailing marijuana users, keeping prisoners beyond their sentences to use as cheap labor and fighting against bail reform proposals.
The ‘Kamala Is a Cop’ meme of Harris dressed in a police uniform and laughing while she handcuffed children spread on the internet as activists signaled their disappointment with her record.
Harris respond by dismissing critics, again dismissing it was the product of ‘misinformation’ on the internet.
Vice President Kamala Harris, left, waves as she arrives to board Air Force Two at Andrews Air Force Base
A new ad for Kamala Harris for president touts her experience in law enforcement as a strength
Rebuilding the prosecutor persona
Now that Harris is running for president, she is trying to walk back her support for defunding the police, as it appeared deeply unpopular with voters facing higher crime in America’s major cities.
The Harris campaign is distancing itself from Harris’ 2020 reboot and instead pivoting back to her reputation as a prosecutor.
Harris believes that voters want a tough prosecutor again, someone who will go after former President Donald Trump, who is now a convicted felon.
‘Vice President Harris spent years prosecuting criminals and getting justice for victims, and has supported increased funding to keep our communities safe and hold convicted felons like Trump accountable,’ the campaign spokesman James Singer said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
