![]() House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., a co-author with Bass and the Democratic senators, will convene a hearing on the legislation Wednesday. It would ban racial profiling and boost requirements for police body cameras.Īnd it would create a “National Police Misconduct Registry," a database to try to prevent officers from transferring from one department to another with past misconduct undetected, the draft said.Ī long-sought federal anti-lynching bill stalled in Congress is included in the package. For one, it would grant subpoena power to the Justice Department to conduct “pattern and practice” investigations of potential misconduct and help states conduct independent investigations. The legislation would seek to provide greater oversight and transparency of police behavior in several ways. The package would also change “qualified immunity” protections for police “to enable individuals to recover damages when law enforcement officers violate their constitutional rights." ![]() The proposed legislation would revise the federal criminal police misconduct statute to make it easier to prosecute officers who are involved in misconduct “knowingly or with reckless disregard." (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty, Video: Handout) "We cannot settle for anything less than transformative, structural change," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The package confronts several aspects of law enforcement accountability and practices that have come under criticism, especially as more and more police violence is captured on cellphone video and shared widely across the nation, and the world. Congress is not calling for any wholesale defunding of law enforcement, leaving those decisions to local cities and states, she noted. “First they wanted to abolish private health insurance, then it was capitalism and now it’s the police.” “No industry is safe from the Democrats’ abolish culture,” said Micahel McAdams, a spokesman for the House Republican campaign committee, in an email blast. Republican campaign officials followed suit. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty ImagesĪs activists call for restructuring police departments the president tweeted, “LAW & ORDER, NOT DEFUND AND ABOLISH THE POLICE.” Al Green and other Democratic lawmakers took a knee to observe a moment of silence on Capitol Hill. President Donald Trump, who will meet with law enforcement officials later Monday at the White House, was quick to characterize the Democrats as having “gone CRAZY!” While Democrats are expected to swiftly approve the legislation this month, it does not go as far as some activists want to “defund the police." The outlook for passing the package in the Republican-held Senate is slim. police reforms remains politically polarized and highly uncertain in this election year. ![]() ![]() “The world is witnessing the birth of a new movement in this country,” Bass said.ĭespite the worldwide protests, with tens of thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets in cities across America and abroad since Floyd was killed May 25, the idea of broad-based U.S. Karen Bass, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is leading the effort, said called it “bold” and “transformative.” Butterfield and other Democratic lawmakers took a knee to observe a moment of silence on Capitol Hill for George Floyd and other victims of police brutality on Monday.
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