I'm not sure this is the most politically opportune time that the White House could be doing this, though I suppose at this point they can't back down:
President Biden is expected to sign on Wednesday a police reform executive order that will create a national database of police misconduct, ban the use of chokeholds unless deadly force is authorized and require anti-bias training. ...
Wednesday marks two years since a white police officer kneeled on George Floyd's neck for nine minutes as he said "I can't breathe" over 20 times. Black civil rights advocates have decried stalled progress on police reform in Congress and slammed the continued lack of accountability for police killings that followed Floyd's death.
What are some of the provisions of the order?
- Establish a national database of police misconduct and require all federal law enforcement agencies to participate and use the database to screen personnel.
- Ban the use of chokeholds and carotid restraints "unless deadly force is authorized" and restrict the use of no-knock entries.
- Ensure "timely and thorough investigations and consistent discipline."
- Mandate body-worn camera policies and expedited public release of footage in cases of serious bodily injury or deaths in custody for all federal agencies.
To be sure, most of these policies apply only to federal law enforcement officers, not local cops. But a "national database of police misconduct" is another thing entirely.
It's not that records of police misconduct are a bad thing; indeed they are a good thing. But at the federal level?
I mean, what do we think the chance are that such a database might in some way be abused by federal authorities in some unanticipated way? Is that a possibility, even a remote possibility?
Color me just a wee bit skeptical that this is a good idea.
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