Democrats propose broad police overhaul
WASHINGTON — Democrats proposed a far-reaching overhaul of police procedures and accountability Monday, a sweeping legislative response to the mass protests denouncing the deaths of black Americans in the hands of law enforcement.
The political outlook is deeply uncertain for the legislation in a polarized election year. President Donald Trump is staking out a tough “law and order” approach in the face of the outpouring of demonstrations and demands to re-imagine policing in America.
“We cannot settle for anything less than transformative structural change,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, drawing on the nation’s history of slavery.
Before unveiling the package, House and Senate Democrats held a moment of silence at the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall, reading the names of George Floyd and many others killed during police interactions. They knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds — now a symbol of police brutality and violence — the length of time prosecutors say Floyd was pinned under a white police officer’s knee before he died.
Mr. Trump, who met with law enforcement officials at the White House, characterized the Democrats as having “gone CRAZY!”
As activists call for restructuring police departments and to “defund the police,” the president tweeted, “LAW & ORDER, NOT DEFUND AND ABOLISH THE POLICE.”
Democratic leaders pushed back, saying their proposal would not eliminate police departments — a decision that lies with cities and states — but would instead establish new oversight.
The Justice in Policing Act would limit legal protections for police, create a national database of excessive-force incidents and ban police chokeholds, among other changes. It’s the most ambitious law enforcement reforms sought by Congress in years.
The 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 more broadly enable damage claims in lawsuits.
The legislation would seek to provide greater transparency of police behavior 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. It would ban racial profiling, boost requirements for police body cameras and limit the transfer of military equipment to local jurisdictions.
And 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 says.
A long-sought federal anti-lynching bill that has stalled in Congress is included in the package.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., a co-author with Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., and
Democratic senators, will convene a hearing on the legislation Wednesday.
The legislation confronts several aspects of policing that have come under strong criticism, especially as more and more police violence is captured on cellphone video and shared widely across the nation and the world.
“The world is witnessing the birth of a new movement in this country,” said Ms. Bass, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is leading the House effort. She called the proposal “bold” and “transformative.”
While House Democrats are expected to swiftly approve the legislation this month, it does not go as far as some activists want. The outlook for passage in the Republican-held Senate is slim.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose Louisville, Ky., hometown faces unrest after the police killing of Breonna Taylor, said he would take a look at potential legislation.
Republicans are likely to stick with Mr. Trump, although Mr. McConnell was key to passage of a criminal justice sentencing overhaul.