As protestors rally for justice, there’s a common rallying cry among them: Defund the police. It’s a notion that’s had the support of critics of the criminal justice system for years and it’s starting to gain more traction by those who argue incremental police reforms have failed. But its meaning has a lot of interpretations by a lot of different people. Former Bergen County Police Chief and current adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Brian Higgins joins Senior Correspondent Briana Vannozzi to explain.
Former NJ chief on defunding the police and why they can’t be eliminated
Anchor
An Emmy award-winning journalist, Briana Vannozzi serves as the anchor for NJ Spotlight News, the newsroom of NJ PBS. She's worked in several capacities since joining the news division in 2012, as interim anchor and senior correspondent after years of general assignment reporting as a multimedia journalist. Vannozzi began her television journalism career by cutting her teeth on New Jersey State House politics for New Jersey Network News, and later as a news radio correspondent at FM News 101.9 covering crime and politics in New York City. Her work has taken her to national presidential nominating conventions, Capitol Hill, up and down the East Coast and every corner of the Garden State. She's interviewed every New Jersey governor dating back to Jon Corzine and moderated numerous political debates and forums. Her work has also earned awards from the New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists and the Philadelphia Press Association. A Burlington County native, she's honored to be serving and covering her home state and raising her family there.