WASHINGTON _ Kamala Harris says she wants to "reimagine" policing, not abolish it.
She's been talking and writing about strategies for making law enforcement more efficient and responsive for years.
She's also got a reputation as a tough California prosecutor, an image that became so ingrained that many Black and liberal groups were cool to her before she became the Democrats' candidate for vice president.
But those aren't the stories the Trump campaign and its supporters tell as they seek to paint the California senator as a serious threat to everyone's safety.
Since presidential nominee Joe Biden chose Harris for his ticket Aug. 11, Trump's forces have waged a relentless campaign to convince voters Harris is a radical whose sympathies are with the people in the streets.
"If Sleepy Joe Biden were to become president, he would immediately pass legislation to gut every single police department in America. You know that. And probably, she's a step worse. She's a step worse, Kamala," President Donald Trump told a New York Cops for Trump event last week.
"Joe Biden and Kamala ... Harris have a plan to spread this mayhem to every community in America," he said. "Now, in all fairness to Joe, he doesn't really know what's happening."
Harris has praised peaceful protests and criticized violent action. Thursday, she spoke about the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
"We must always defend peaceful protest _ and peaceful protesters. We should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence, including the shooter who was arrested for murder," Harris said. "And make no mistake, we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice."
While voters and rivals focus mostly on the presidential candidate, the Trump campaign's attempt to define Harris is an important part of its campaign strategy, said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion in New York.
Trump is behind in the polls, so one way to catch up is that, "you go after the opponent's strength, and Kamala Harris was known as a tough prosecutor," Miringoff said.
Here is some of what Republicans have had to say about Harris since she was named to the Democratic ticket:
_ GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel wrote in an opinion piece for Fox News on Aug. 12 about "Harris' support for defunding the police." "Any sort of law and order message is considered a third rail in today's Democratic Party, so Harris no longer talks about her record _ and the left-wing media know better than to ask," she said.
_ McDaniel tweeted Friday of Harris, "She applauds defunding of the police. The more suburban moms like me learn about her radical policies, the less they will like them!"
_ In a campaign video released Saturday, Lara Trump, wife of the president's son Eric, talks about Harris' "failed stint as a district attorney in San Francisco." After winning her first term in a runoff election with 56% of the vote, Harris was unopposed for a second term in 2007.
_ Michael McHale, president of the National Association of Police Organizations, told the convention last Wednesday that "Kamala Harris' legislation to further restrict police would make our American communities and streets even more dangerous than they already are."
_ Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., told the convention that when it comes to Democrats, "It's a horror movie. They'll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door. And the defunded police aren't on their way. It's the only kind of movie they're making in Hollywood nowadays _ that's if the lights even stay on in California anymore."
Then he tied Harris to all this, saying, "By the way, America shouldn't be giving any more power to the junior senator of a state that can't even keep its power grid running."
"Defund the police" generally means moving money from the police department to other government agencies. Harris has not aligned herself specifically with the Defund the Police movement or supported abolishing police forces, but she has for years urged considering different strategies for deploying police.
"Defund does not mean abolish policing," wrote Rashawn Ray, a fellow in governance studies at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution.
"Defund the police happens all the time, but different municipalities have different views on what this looks like," Ray told The Sacramento Bee.
In some places, he said, it means having mental health and addiction specialists responding to nonviolent calls for service for urgent health matters. In other places, it means having people who are not police respond to some traffic calls.
"These changes are aimed to reduce overpolicing and slower response times for calls for service. Bottom line is that people who live in predominantly Black areas want policing to be similar to what occurs in predominantly white neighborhoods," Ray said.
Harris' views have been similar to those of Ray. But she is hesitant to directly answer questions about whether she supports defunding.
On ABC's "The View" in June, she was repeatedly asked if she backed the Defund the Police movement. Harris answered by saying she supports "reimagining how we do public safety in America."
"We have confused the idea that to achieve safety you put more cops on the street instead of understanding to achieve safe and healthy communities, you put more resources into the public education system of those communities, into affordable housing, into home ownership, into access to capital for small businesses" and access to health care, she said.
Harris was elected San Francisco district attorney in 2003, was reelected in 2007 and went on to win two terms as California attorney general.
In 2009, Harris wrote "Smart on Crime," a book that included a detailed look at her views on policing.
She cited the philosophy of William Bratton, then Los Angeles chief of police. "Chief Bratton believes that police can reduce crime, not just react to it, but the solution is not just adding personnel," Harris wrote.
"How the officers are managed and deployed, the quality of the information they use to make decisions and how accountable they are for their own performance all matter too," she said.
