Demings: ‘We are long overdue for every law enforcement agency in our nation to review itself’ | TheHill

Rep. Val DemingsValdez (Val) Venita Demings Sunday shows preview: Leaders weigh in as country erupts in protest over George Floyd death Biden: ‘More than one African American woman’ being considered for VP Rep. Demings, former police chief, urges review of police practices after death of George Floyd MORE (D-Fla.) said Sunday that the killing of George Floyd was an indicator that law enforcement agencies nationwide should conduct internal reviews and “come out better than before.”

“I do believe we are long overdue for every law enforcement agency in our nation to review itself and come out better than before,” Demings, who previously served as the first female chief of the Orlando Police Department, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday.

Historically, Demings said “as we’ve dealt with misconduct involving police officers, that we’ve always tried to deal with it as an individual department or an individual city or an individual state.”

Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the pavement with one knee on his neck for several minutes despite Floyd’s protests that he was unable to breathe. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been fired and arrested on charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

“But I do believe the time has certainly come, we are overdue, for us to look at the problem as a nation. I think we all need to pause and every law enforcement agency in this nation, whether they are 10 persons or 35,000 persons, need to review their hiring standards, their training standards, look at their de-escalation standards that they’re doing within the department, look at those officers who train other officers, because we know our training officers are the ones who set the standard for what’s acceptable on the street,” Demings added.

“We have to continue to work with our community leaders to build relationships, to foster trust, and we don’t wait to do that until we’re in the middle of a crisis. We have to continue to do that every day,” she said.

Demings, a potential Democratic vice presidential pick, also called for President TrumpDonald John TrumpDonald Trump and Joe Biden create different narratives for the election The hollowing out of the CDC Poll: Biden widens lead over Trump to 10 points MORE to “show … some compassion” in addressing the nation, saying “if there was ever a time we need leadership in the White House, it is now, to help heal our nation, but I don’t know why I would ever expect the president to do something that he has never done before and we have never seen.”

EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Val Demmings (D-Fla.) calls for President Trump to “show compassion” to heal the nation. #IfItsSunday #MTP@RepValDemings: “If he called me today, I would welcome the opportunity to help this president get it right.” pic.twitter.com/jjNejTHDvT

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 31, 2020

Asked by host Chuck ToddCharles (Chuck) David ToddCoronavirus Report: The Hill’s Steve Clemons interviews Dr. Tom Inglesby Gottlieb calls for CDC to have ‘elevated’ role in coronavirus fight Navarro: CDC ‘really let the country down with the testing’ MORE if she would hypothetically help the president address the nation, Demings said “If he called me today, I would welcome the opportunity to help this president get it right.”