Georgia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Stacey Abrams, spent more than $1.2 million on private security since she announced her candidacy in December 2021, according to Fox News, despite links with groups that advocate to defund the police and their frugal positions on this issue.
A Fox News Digital investigation revealed that Abrams' campaign doled out more than $400,000 between July and August of this year alone on her private security.
The television network detailed that Abrams' campaign paid more than $800,000 to Executive Protection Agencies, LLC, a private security firm based in Atlanta, between December 2021 and June of this year. The number of people assigned to guard the Democratic politician is not known at this time.
Advocate for police defunding
Stacey Abrams used the riots about the death of George Floyd in 2020 to show nonconformity with police funding:
"We have to reallocate resources" she said in June 2020 when asked if police budgets needed to be reduced. "If there is a moment where resources are so tight that we have to choose whether we murder Black people or serve Black people, then absolutely: Our choice must be service.
Stacey Abrams has avoided referring directly to "defunding" the police, but instead favors "reform and transformation" of law enforcement, rather than the outright abolition of the police.
Abrams is a member of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, which supports controversial police reform and has repeatedly expressed support for defunding and abolishing the police. Fox News reported that a few months ago, messages of support for the Defund The Police and Abolish The Police initiatives were posted on social networks.
Abrams also previously co-chaired the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund (BVBJ), a "racial justice" organization that awarded tens of thousands of dollars to activists who want to defund and abolish the police.
Abrams also served as executive director of the Roosevelt Institute's Southern Economic Advancement Project (SEAP), which wants to defund police and focus on racial justice. Fox News reports that Abrams would have received at least $708,324 from the organization from 2019 to 2021.
On the other hand, Abrams supported ending prison privatization and parole reporting in Georgia's criminal justice system:
"I don't believe in the privatization of justice," Abrams said in April 2018. "There is a profit motive behind private prisons that is anathema to the core of who we are as Americans."
Defund the Police
Abrams is not the only name that comes up when talking about defunding the police. Former Arizona Democratic State Senator Kirsten Engel, who is running for Arizona's open 6th Congressional District, is one of the progressives supporting the Defund the Police movement. During a debate prior to the 2020 general election for Arizona State Senate District 10, the then-candidate explained that she would be "okay" with shifting some of the responsibilities and money from law enforcement. The politician was against allocating more funding to the police.
Progressive politicians are mostly proponents of the Defund the Police movement. A few weeks ago, The Convention of States Action partnered with Trafalgar Group and released a survey which revealed that the vast majority of Americans do not support the measures implemented in cities with progressive leaders that leave police officers with little room to handle and prevent the arrests of those accused of violent crimes.
The poll found that 95.6% of respondents say they are "less likely to vote in the next election for a candidate who supports policies that prevent police from arresting criminals accused of violent crimes, such as kidnapping and armed robbery."
