ST. LOUIS — A line about police funding during President Joe Biden's first State of the Union address struck a nerve in St. Louis, where local leaders have battled police union representatives over resources.
"We should all agree. The answer's not to defund the police, it's to fund the police," Biden said. "Fund them. Fund them. Fund them with resources and training, resources and training they need to protect their communities."
"You know, I was very frustrated," Marquis Govan said.
Just hours after the president's speech, Govan was crossing St. Louis University Campus campaigning during student government elections.
Govan's been active in past political causes, armed Wednesday with a megaphone and statistics.
"Here in St. Louis last year, we saw a reduction in crime by some 26%. That was not due to police for the most part. That was due to programs like Cure Violence, civilians interrupting things before they even took place," he said.
Govan says the answer lies in reallocating police funds to different social programs, a move seconded by Rep. Cori Bush though she often uses the "defund" branding.
"I don't care if you call it 'defund,' 'reallocate,' 'move,' 'switch,' 'push,' or 'transfer' money. What we're saying is, we have to do something different to be able to save lives," the St. Louis democrat said.
Bush continued, "We don't need all of these militarized weapons in our communities. What we need is to put that money into social services. What we need is to expand 911."
But St. Louis Police Officers Association President Jay Schroeder, who has been advocating for more officers on the street, says they were pleasantly surprised by the president's statement.
"I was actually really really surprised when I heard that part. My phone started blowing up with people saying that the president has said 'fund the police, fund the police,'" Schroeder said.
Schroeder says the president chose to add the line to his address because he believes the "defund police" slogan is unpopular with voters, and the national Fraternal Order of Police has been advocating on their behalf.
"We have been talking about how we need more money for training, we need money for recruiting, and we lost 178 policemen in the city last year," Schroeder said.
Yesterday, the White House gave some bullet points on Biden's $5 billion community safety plan. They will use the money on increased training for local police while working on other strategies including targeting illegal guns and strengthening summer and job programs for kids.