E.C. Sykes believes the state should be working to improve the police department, rather than defund it. | Facebook
E.C. Sykes believes the state should be working to improve the police department, rather than defund it. | Facebook
A Republican Secretary of State nominee spoke out against defunding North Carolina police departments as well as calling out Elaine Marshall's silence on the "Occupy" movement protests.
E.C. Sykes, GOP Secretary of State candidate, said in a statement that defunding police departments was not the right approach, and instead the focus should be on improvement.
“It’s unnerving to witness the radical left calling to defund our police, especially as they grow louder every day," Sykes said in the statement. "We must work to improve these departments, but defunding them is not the answer."
The defunding the police calls developed from the ongoing social and racial justice movement after Geroge Floyd's death at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer was captured on video. The defund the police movement though has been largely about reallocating some funds to police departments to more community programs, though, there are those who fully believe in cutting all funding.
"I will always support our law enforcement and first responders across North Carolina,” Sykes said in his press release. “Defunding our police would put the people of North Carolina in immediate danger and have a massively negative impact on our state."
This is also why Sykes said he was surprised over Marshall's silence on the issue, especially when "she helped pave the way for this movement" with the Occupy Raleigh movement.
"Why is she absent? Does she stand with the radicals that want to defund the police or does she stand with the first responders North Carolinians count on every day?” Sykes said in his statement. "Only a decade ago, Elaine Marshall, while serving as Secretary of State, marched with and encouraged as a spokesperson these same types of protests during the “Occupy Raleigh” movement."
Sykes said he believes it's time for elected officials to take their stance.
"With vandalism and rioting accompanying protests throughout our state and nation, it is time for the people of North Carolina to know where all of their elected officials stand on defunding police and first responders," he said in the statement.
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