Does Joe Lombardo support defunding the police?
In an interview with The Nevada Independent from March 30, 2022, when asked if he supported defunding the police, Clark County Sheriff and Republican governor candidate Joe Lombardo answered, “I don’t support defunding the police when we’re talking about putting cops on the street.”
“Cops make a difference,” he said. “They’re influential in everything associated with the economy and quality of life.”
This clarification was prompted by his initial response to a question about his support for defunding the police in June 2020. At the time, he had said, “[...] Being in the policing profession for 32 years, [I] know that police matter ... Defunding I can support in some aspects ... Mental health and homelessness and hunger, the police are expected to take care of those particular issues … We don’t necessarily have the resources or the training or the ability to handle a few of them.”