JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri’s Republican candidates for governor renewed calls to support police during a debate largely focused on racial tensions and police-involved shootings.
The fatal police shooting of black 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson and the sometimes-violent protests that followed were top issues during a televised debate Wednesday. The GOP candidates for governor are suburban St. Louis businessman John Brunner, former Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens, former U.S. attorney and House speaker Catherine Hanaway and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.
Kinder says people need to unite behind police, and he stressed relationships with communities like Ferguson. Brunner says he’d boost employment. Greitens says he would’ve enacted a curfew during Ferguson protests and listened to residents’ concerns.
Hanaway called for harsher penalties for those who shoot police, better community policing and police body cameras.