New act aims to limit legal protections for US police

A sweeping overhaul of police oversight and procedures is being proposed by Democrats in response to the deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement, according to a draft outline obtained by The Associated Press.

The Justice in Policing Act, to be unveiled today, would limit legal protections for police, create a national database of excessiveforce incidents and ban police choke holds, among other changes. It is the most ambitious changes to law enforcement sought by Congress in years.

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is leading the effort, said called it ‘‘transformative.’’

‘‘We’re in a real moment in our country,’’ she said yesterday on CNN, speaking after days of massive protests set off by the death of George Floyd and other African Americans involving the police.

Bass said the package from House and Senate Democrats will be bolder than any law enforcement changes of the past decade.

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 cell phone video and shared widely.

The draft document said 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.’’

The package would also change ‘‘qualified immunity’’ protections for police ‘‘to enable individuals to recover damages when law enforcement officers violate their constitutional rights,’’ it says.

The legislation would seek to provide greater oversight and transparency of police behaviour in several ways. 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. And it would create a a database to try to prevent officers from transferring from one department to another with past misconduct undetected, the draft said. -AP