Election 2024: Where Harris and Trump Stand on Police Accountability—NPAP’s Breakdown

With the election coming up, we want to be clear: NPAP doesn’t pick sides or endorse candidates. We have one focus—and that’s to hold law enforcement accountable.

As you prepare to vote, we encourage you to take a hard look at where candidates stand on real reform and accountability. That’s why we’ve outlined where our two Presidential candidates stand on what we believe are the main issues at stake in policing today: accountability, independent oversight,  transparency, and reducing contact with the police.

KAMALA HARRIS

A former prosecutor, district attorney and attorney general, Kamala Harris has positioned herself as a “smart on crime” candidate who has advocated for progressive criminal justice reforms. Her critics question her willingness to shift positions for political advancement. Like many politicians who vocally supported  reallocating police budgets

Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Harris backpedaled her initial support of the movement to reallocate police budgets to community-led initiatives.

Accountability

While in Congress, she co-authored the first draft of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would increase accountability for law enforcement misconduct and enhance pathways for victims to seek justice. 

Harris supports limiting qualified immunity as a defense to liability and lowering the criminal intent standard—from willful to knowing or reckless—to convict a law enforcement officer for misconduct in a federal prosecution.

Harris also supports the prevention and remedy of racial profiling by law enforcement, as well as limiting  unnecessary use of force and restricting dangerous practices, including no-knock warrants, chokeholds, and carotid holds. She has also rejected the arming of police agencies with military equipment.

Independent oversight

Harris supports the federal establishment of uniform accreditation standards for law enforcement agencies that would require law enforcement officers to complete training on racial profiling, implicit bias, and the duty to intervene in cases of excessive force by another officer. She supports federal oversight of police agencies who present a pattern and practice of misconduct as well as administrative subpoena power to the DOJ In these investigations.

Reducing contact with police

Harris has a mixed record on criminalization. Harris has said she regrets her support of truancy prosecution as California Attorney General, which criminalized the parents of children who missed school. She has vocally opposed the criminalization of abortion and co-sponsored a bill to reclassify marijuana’s addiction level and its criminal consequences to less than that of heroin.

On the other hand, she has also supported criminalization efforts with damaging consequences. On the campaign trail, Harris has shifted to positioning herself as pro-immigration to pledging restrictive immigration, asylum, and border policies. She co-sponsored FOSTA/SESTA to limit sex work online, which advocates say have resulted in sex workers being forced into more dangerous work on the streets.

Transparency

Harris supports the development of a national police misconduct registry and would establish new reporting requirements, including on the use of force, officer misconduct, and routine policing practices (e.g., stops and searches).

Harris is supportive of body worn cameras, which were introduced under her watch in California, though she refused to support statewide standards regulating their use.

During her time as the Attorney General of California, Harris was criticized for not using her office to investigate police shootings, rejecting legislation that would have mandated her office investigate all fatal police shootings. There have also been criticisms of her decision to uphold wrongful convictions, especially those secured through official misconduct. 

Conditions of Confinement 

In her 2020 campaign for President she promised to end federal mandatory minimum sentences and to end solitary confinement and cash bail. She has been silent on these issues in her 2024 campaign. She has also refused to comment on her previous promise to close private prisons and detention facilities. 

Under her watch, the Attorney General’s office argued against releasing incarcerated individuals who were eligible for early release because the state needed their cheap labor to fight California wildfires. Harris claimed at the time that she was not aware of her office’s stance. 

DONALD TRUMP

During his term as President and throughout his campaign, Donald Trump has advocated for aggressive, militarized policing and increasing mass incarceration, while decreasing accountability and transparency measures for law enforcement across the board. 

Accountability

Donald Trump supports reducing liability for police officers, including strengthening qualified immunity and increasing penalties for assaults on law enforcement.

Trump would give police more authority and has been vocal in his support of the use of violent force. He notably pledged to militarize local police departments and threatened to send in the National Guard and federal prosecutors in response to protests and “high-crime” areas.

During the Trump Presidency, the ACLU​​ filed more than 430 legal actions against the administration, including lawsuits aimed at defending the right to protest against police brutality and stopping mass surveillance by law enforcement.

Reducing Contact with Police

Trump has voiced support for outdated policing strategies including “stop and frisk,” eliminated in many cities for racial profiling. This and other aggressive policing strategies would increase civilian interactions with the police, therefore increasing the likelihood of violence and fatalities for all involved.

Trump has advocated for sending drug users to prison for simple possession, where overdose and withdrawal deaths are already on the rise. He has also stated he wants to move the unhoused out of cities, a process that would likely involve unnecessary and violent law enforcement interaction with a community that is above all in need of housing and care.

Trump supports criminalizing transgender youth for participating in sports and/or seeking gender-affirming care, a stance that introduces police into the lives of children and their parents in what should be personal and medical choices.

A cornerstone of Trump’s campaign has been his promise to criminalize both legal and illegal immigrants. Trump promises to restrict legal immigration, including a ban on travelers from some Muslim countries. He has stated he would eliminate asylum for undocumented immigrants and would initiate mass deportations, including those that do not require due process. 

Transparency

During his time as President, Trump cast doubt on federal monitoring of local departments and suggested in 2023 that Congress should “defund the DOJ and FBI” for their role in investigating him. He has expressed he believed that body-worn cameras should not be required, but rather up to the individual officer’s discretion.

Another important indicator for Trump’s stance on accountability is his endorsement by police unions, one of the most powerful and vocal opponents of reform, accountability, and transparency for police officers across the country. 

Conditions of confinement

Trump has promised to accelerate mass incarceration by directing federal prosecutors to seek the most serious charges and maximum sentences. Within carceral settings, he has proposed punitive policies, including the continuation of solitary confinement and the elimination of restoration programs. He has expressed he does not believe incarcerated individuals should retain the right to vote. He has expressed support for the continuation of contracts with private jail and prison operators.

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Photo sources:

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mobilus In Mobili, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Link to original photos here:

Kamala Harris

Donald Trump