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Clinton Talks Police-Community Relations Before NAACP

Bill Rinehart
/
WVXU
Hillary Clinton talked about public safety and police-community relations at the NAACP convention in Cincinnati. In Cleveland, Republicans opened their nominating convention with the theme "Make America Safe Again."

Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is calling for a number of reforms to the country's criminal justice system.  She spoke before the NAACP's national convention in Cincinnati Monday. 

Clinton condemned the attack that left three police officers dead in Baton Rouge on Sunday. She also called for more reforms to the nation's criminal justice system, including creating national standards on use of force, and independent investigations into deaths in police custody.

"Today there are people all across America sick over what happened in Baton Rouge and in Dallas, but also fearful that the murders of police officers means that vital questions about police-community relations will go unanswered."

Clinton says the deaths show that things need to change.

"Many police officers across the country agree with that. But it can only happen if we build trust and accountability. And let's admit it, that gets harder every time someone else is killed."

Her apparent rival for the White House, Donald Trump, was invited to speak before the NAACP, but declined, citing a scheduling conflict with the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week.

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown says the relations between communities and police are strained. He too spoke at the NAACP national convention in Cincinnati, Monday morning.

Brown says one way to repair the relationship is to vote.

"The day we begin to heal this country is by opening up our democracy to more voters, not silencing them. We know how important this is, but we have to do the hard work of making sure friends and neighbors know it too and that they vote, not just this November, but they vote in state elections and local elections," Brown said.

In her speech, Clinton announced a nationwide effort to register 3 million new voters. She said her campaign was hosting more than 500 registration events over the next week. One of the first was at the University of Cincinnati, Monday afternoon. 

Bill Rinehart started his radio career as a disc jockey in 1990. In 1994, he made the jump into journalism and has been reporting and delivering news on the radio ever since.