Morgan Freeman Opposes Defunding Police, Says Their Work Is 'Necessary for Us'

Freeman gave his take on the issue while promoting his new film, The Killing Of Kenneth Chamberlain, which is about an old black veteran who is murdered by police officers.

During a recent interview with Black Enterprise, famous Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman defied the progressive left by stating that he does not support the effort to defund police forces around the country.

"I’m not in the least bit for defunding the police," Freeman told the outlet's Selena Hill. "Police work is, aside from all the negativity around it, it is very necessary for us to have them and most of them are guys that are doing their job. They’re going about their day-to-day jobs. There are some police the never pulled their guns except in rage, that sort of thing. I don’t know."

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Публикация от Selena Hill (@msselenahill)

Frankie Faison, who was also interviewed by the journalist and who co-stars with Freeman in the film playing a man who is shot by the police, agreed with Freeman, who starred in Shawshank Redemption, that there is no need to defund the police.

"Well, I agree with Morgan," Faison said. "I’m certainly not in favor of defunding policemen."

However, Hollywood celebs are "treated a little differently by law enforcement than people who are just of ordinary walks of life," according to Faison.

"I would like for that to stop, I would like for us all to be treated equally," he added.

According to an AP report, this summer the actor along with criminal justice professor Linda Keena gave $1 million to the University of Mississippi's Center for Evidence-Based Policing and Reform.

"Look at the past year in our country – that sums it up," Freeman is quoted as saying in the report. "It’s time we are equipping police officers with training and ensuring ‘law enforcement’ is not defined only as a gun and a stick. Policing should be about that phrase ‘To Serve’ found on most law enforcement vehicles."

According to some critics in the US, the public campaign known by the slogan "Defund the Police" has led to cuts in law enforcement expenditures in response to outrage over the killings of unarmed African-Americans, which has resulted in an increase in homicides and other violent crimes in cities across the country.

However, the Biden administration has been trying to blame the increased crime on Republicans for refusing to support Democratic budget proposals that contain social services. In 2020 and thus far in 2021, city police departments have reported an increase in officer resignations and retirements.