WASHINGTON – Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate unveiled a bill Monday that would enact broad police reforms nationwide in response to protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
The bill, called the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, would institute several major policies designed to reduce the chances of deadly use-of-force incidents, which have disproportionately harmed African Americans.
The bill would institute a national database of complaints against police officers, compiling information across about 18,000 police departments in the U.S. It would also ban chokeholds, end the sale of military-style equipment to police departments and mandate the use of body cameras, among other measures.
The measures would apply directly to federal law enforcement, but the bill also says the federal government would withhold funds from local law enforcement agencies that don’t comply with the new rules.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., signaled his support.
“We need a comprehensive approach to improve police training, practices and accountability,” Bennet said. “This is one step of many we must take to seek justice and equal protection under the law for black Americans.”
Denise Maes, public policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Colorado, was encouraged to see work being done at the federal level to enact changes to policing.
“There is some groundbreaking stuff in this bill, and it’s pretty phenomenal,” Maes said.
Maes said she’s skeptical of policing reforms passing through the Republican-controlled Senate, but she believes that work at a state level in Colorado will help ensure changes.
“I think what the federal government is doing kind of adheres to what we’re doing in Colorado,” Maes said. “I think sometimes these things are better handled at the state level in these areas and that’s what we’re doing.”
A bill currently working its way through the Colorado General Assembly includes similar measures, including a ban on chokeholds and mandated use of body cameras by all police officers by 2023.
The legislation follows more than a week of sustained protests in dozens of cities spurred by the death of Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin after the officer kneeled on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
The national ACLU has come out against the Justice in Policing Act, saying it increases funding for police departments at a time when activists would prefer to see that money invested in communities of color across the nation.
“While many of the reforms in this bill are laudable and vital, more must be done to change the role of police in our society fundamentally,” the statement read. “There can be no more Band-Aid or temporary fixes when it comes to policing, which is why we are calling for divestment from law enforcement agencies and reinvestment into the Black and Brown communities that have been harmed by over-policing and mass incarceration.”
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany also indicated certain provisions of the bill, including the reduction of “qualified immunity” for police officers, were “non-starters” for the president, The Washington Post reported. Qualified immunity is a legal principle shielding individual officers from lawsuits seeking damages.
The bill is just one measure being considered by politicians in Washington. Previously, lawmakers have expressed interest in commissions examining the policing in African American communities and racial bias in policing.
This story has been updated to note the bill was also introduced by Democrats in the U.S. Senate.Jacob Wallace is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C.