Mike Pence voices opposition to Justice in Policing Act in latest South Carolina visit

During a visit with Lowcountry law enforcement leaders, former Vice President Mike Pence voiced his opposition to the proposed George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, saying it would hurt police officers’ ability to do their jobs.

Pence visited North Charleston for a discussion with roughly 15 law enforcement officials and state Sen. Brian Adams, R-Berkeley, in Pence’s ninth public trip to the early presidential primary state since the end of the Trump administration.

He thanked police officers for their willingness to do the job especially in light of criticism that falls on law enforcement in cases such as the police shooting death of Walter Scott in North Charleston and police beating that led to the death of Tyre Nichols in Tennessee.

“We have to resist the reflex in the American left and in much of the national media to blame cops first when tragedy happens,” Pence said. “In my experience, nobody hates bad cops more than good cops.”

The visit was without U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. , a North Charleston resident who is considering a run for the presidency too, and who worked on a Senate version of police reform before talks broke down in September 2021.

Pence declined to talk about a possible presidential run but his trip Thursday also included a stop at Bob Jones University in Greenville.

His previous stops have included speaking at the Palmetto Family Council 2021 Gala, the Carolina Pregnancy Center’s 2022 Gala and an October 2022 appearance at Wofford College to discuss international affairs and national security.

Pence has yet to announce if he will seek the White House, but has said he should have a decision on a run by the spring.

So far the only major Republican candidates to declare are former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

If he does run, the former vice president has work to do to climb up in the polls.

A January poll of 450 likely primary voters in South Carolina conducted for the Conservative Policy Research Network found Trump leads individual head-to-head matchups against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Haley and Scott. Trump also gets a 41% plurality of the support when respondents were asked who they would support if the field included the former president, DeSantis, Haley, Pence and Scott.

A Quinnipiac University Poll found Pence had a 27% favorable rating and a 46% unfavorable rating, with 23% saying they haven’t heard enough about him.

The same poll reported Pence had 4% support among Republican voters around the country, trailing Trump, who had 42%, DeSantis with 36% and Haley with 5%.

South Carolina Democrats criticized Pence ahead of his visit, pointing to the Trump administration’s push for cuts to community relations services and community oriented policing services.

“Mike Pence’s record of opposing funding for law enforcement speaks for itself,” said South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson. “He and Donald Trump proposed federal budgets that would cut funding for local law enforcement programs, and he actively tried to whip votes against the American Rescue Plan, which has provided millions for public safety in South Carolina.”

Pence said he is proud of the Trump administration’s record of advocating for law enforcement dollars.

“People who serve on the thin blue line know that when we were in the White House, that the support was there to stand with those who uphold the law, to uphold the law broadly, when tragedy strikes, not to assume the worst and so I’m proud of our record,” Pence said. “But there’s always specific changes that people can point to but I truly do believe that our record in support of law enforcement was historic and it’s exactly what we need to return to.”

Pence said he opposed the American Rescue Plan Act because of the price tag and blamed it for adding to inflation.

“I didn’t oppose specifically support for law enforcement,” Pence said. “But I’m very confident the new Republican (House) majority is going to support measures to provide law enforcement with the resources and reforms necessary, but we’ve got to set our country back on a pathway toward a fiscal solvency.”

Pence also spoke out against the proposed George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would crack down on no-knock warrants, ban choke holds by federal law enforcement and encourage local and state agencies to do the same and require the use of body cameras, anti-discrimination programs and mitigate the use of deadly force by local and state departments if they receive federal dollars.

He said police reform proposed by Democrats in Washington, D.C., would be a “disaster for law enforcement and the American people they serve. It would leave law enforcement in this country underequipped, underfunded and further demoralize police forces around the country.”

“The Justice in Policing Act will jeopardize law enforcement and the ability for you to do your job to protect our communities and our families and it should be opposed,” Pence added.

Among those to join Pence was North Charleston Police Chief Reggie Burgess, who at one point was nominated to lead to state’s Department of Public Safety. Burgess withdrew from his nomination because of questions about unpaid taxes.

Burgess said his police department works with nonprofits to help with initiatives such as unconscious bias training to better serve the community, where in 2015 a police officer killed Walter Scott after a traffic stop. The officer pleaded guilty to a federal charges.

Walter Scott’s family has since worked with the North Charleston Police Department to help improve its relationship with the community.

“The things that we’ve done in law enforcement for the last 10 years by listening to the community and then having more dialogue with the community, that’s exactly what they expected of us,” Burgess said. “Those things are happening. But on the other hand we have victimization in our communities and ... we cannot ignore the call for services from our victims of crime.”

He said cuts to police funding will just mean departments would be spread thin.

“Most likely the areas that are going to hurt the most are the challenged neighborhoods, because when you take away the numbers of officers, I have to spread all those officers out evenly because everybody deserves to have an officer presence,” Burgess said.