Trump signs order to clamp down on violent policing
AFTER weeks of national protests since the death of George Floyd, US President Donald Trump yesterday signed an executive order on policing that he said would encourage better police practices and establish a database to keep track of officers with a history of excessive use-of-force complaints.
Speaking in the Rose Garden, Mr Trump stressed the need for higher standards and commiserated with mourning families, even as he hailed the vast majority of officers as selfless public servants and held his law-and-order line, while criticising Democrats.
“Reducing crime and raising standards are not opposite goals,” he said before signing the order flanked by police.
The president, who has faced criticism for failing to acknowledge systemic racial bias, has continued to emphasise his support for law enforcement even after meeting families of victims in private yesterday.
At the signing, he railed against people who committed violence during the largely peaceful protests and made no mention of racism.
His executive order would establish a database that tracks police officers with excessive use of force complaints in their records. And it would give police departments a financial incentive to adopt best practices and encourage co-responder programmes, in which social workers join police when they respond to non-violent calls involving mental health, addiction and homeless issues.
Mr Trump said that, as part of the order, the use of chokeholds would be banned “except if an officer’s life is at risk”.
However, senior administration officials said the order would promote certification bodies that train officers in de-escalation techniques and use-of-force standards that prohibit chokeholds “except in those situations where deadly force is allowed by law”.
Chokeholds are already largely banned in police forces across the US.
Mr Trump framed his plan as an alternative to the “defund the police” movement that has emerged from the protests and which he slammed as “radical and dangerous”.
“Americans know the truth: Without police there is chaos. Without law there is anarchy and without safety there is catastrophe,” he said.
Mr Trump’s audience included police officials and members of Congress, and came after he met at the White House with the families of men and women killed in interactions with police.
“To all of the hurting families, I want you to know that all Americans mourn by your side,” Mr Trump said.
“Your loved ones will not have died in vain.”
Senate Republicans are preparing their own package of changes. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the sole African American Republican in the Senate, has been crafting the package, which will include new restrictions on police chokeholds and greater use of police body cameras, among other provisions.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell declared that Republicans were developing “a serious proposal to reform law enforcement”.