#Joe Biden considering ex-cop as veep, angering BLM activists

As many Democrats demand police de-funding, an ex-cop has emerged on Joe Biden’s shortlist of veep contenders — troubling some activists.

Val Demings, 63, a two-term Florida congresswoman, has seen her star rise dramatically in recent weeks as riots flared around the country following George Floyd’s death and the Biden campaign gave new weight to African American aspirants for the running-mate job.

“She’s fresh and new, seems better on TV than Kamala [Harris]. I think right now she’s got an outside but decent shot at VP,” one Biden campaign insider told The Post. Demings has publicly stated her interest in the job.

She is reportedly one of six female Democrats to have passed an initial round of scrutiny by Biden’s vice presidential search committee — and has been asked to turn over reams of documents, including financial disclosures and past writings.

But Demings’ 27 years in the Orlando Police Department, where she rose from beat cop to first female chief, are complicating things.

There’s “definitely going to be some stuff in her record people won’t like,” the insider said. “Other VP candidates are probably researching that furiously.”

Demings began her law enforcement career in 1984. Over the years she worked in pretty much every job on the force, from uniformed patrol and detective to public information officer and internal affairs supervisor. In 2007 she was chosen by Mayor Buddy Dyer to lead the 700-cop department, retiring four years later.

Hawk Newsome, chairman of Black Lives Matter, Greater New York chapter, said Demings is a non-starter as VP.

“Joe Biden would be an idiot to put her on his ticket. People are already on the fence about him,” Newsome told The Post. “When black people become police officers, they are no longer black. They are blue. And I have been told this by numerous officers.”

During her time as top cop, Demings’ department was frequently embroiled in excessive-force controversies, and she repeatedly defended the actions of officers.

In 2010, Orlando officer Travis Lamont slammed an 84-year-old World War II veteran to the ground so hard he broke his neck, according to reports at the time. The altercation arose after the vet, Daniel Daley, complained to Lamont about his car being towed. Lamont said Daley was intoxicated and he felt threatened by the octogenarian. Daley sued the department, which was forced to pony up $880,000. An internal review by the police cleared Lamont of wrongdoing.

“After review of the defensive tactic … by the training staff and Officer (Travis) Lamont’s chain of command, it appears the officer performed the technique within department guidelines,” Demings said at the time, according to The Palm Beach Post.

Daley’s son Greg told The Post the thought of Demings as vice president made him “sick to [his] stomach.”

“He’s been on a feeding tube for 2 1/2 years now because of that,” Greg said of his father, who currently lives in a nursing home. “He hasn’t had a bite of food for more 2 1/2 years and it stems from that incident.”

In May 2011, Orlando cop Livio Beccaccio slammed a woman into the ground after she was involved in a larger scuffle downtown. Beccaccio used an “arm bar” technique with such force he broke her teeth. When 20-year-old Lisa Wareham called the police to report the incident, which was captured on video, she was arrested for assaulting him. Beccaccio’s police report allegedly falsely said that “Wareham stumbled forward and fell to the pavement.”

Beccaccio received a 40-hour suspension.

An in-depth review of the department by Orlando Weekly in 2008 declared Demings’ police force a place where “rogue cops operate with impunity, and there’s nothing anybody who finds himself at the wrong end of their short fuse can do about it.”

Demings offered a full-throated defense of the department in an op-ed to the Orlando Sentinel. In it she specifically questioned the value of bystander videos.

“Looking for a negative story in a police department is like looking for a prayer at church,” Demings wrote. “I believe a reasonable person also understands that a few seconds (even on video) rarely capture the entire set of circumstances.”

Since Floyd’s videotaped death at the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, Democratic officials have moved aggressively to rein in police forces.

Just this week the Minneapolis city council promised they would move to defund and dismantle the city police force. The Colorado state senate passed a sweeping new police accountability bill. In New York City, Mayor de Blasio has promised to slash funding for the NYPD. The New York state legislature also moved this week to repeal the 50-a statute which shields NYPD officers’ internal disciplinary records from the public.

Newsome, 41, a former special projects coordinator for the Bronx district attorney, said Kamala Harris’ years as a prosecutor should also disqualify her as a veep candidate. He favors Michelle Obama or former Georgia lawmaker Stacey Abrams.

“I hate the way that the Democrats abuse our people,” Newsome said, adding the party was still in a better position to advance the cause.

Some Democratic Party insiders, however, dismissed criticism of Demings, saying she offered a way to split the difference between activists demanding a black woman as running mate with moderates seeking to shore up support with law-and-order voters.

“The left flank which is the very loud but very small minority that is pissed on Twitter about everything are going to hate whoever he picks,” one Senate insider told The Post. “The African American community isn’t going to be inclined to distrust a black woman.”

Demings is reportedly joined on Biden’s shortlist by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, California Sen. Kamala Harris, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Reps for Demings did not respond to request for comment from The Post.