A YEAR LATER, NOT ENOUGH POLICE REFORM

Last Memorial Day, a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds, and bystander Darnella Frazier captured video of a murder so disturbing it ignited months of protests in all 50 states despite a once-ina-century pandemic. Then came the transcripts. “Momma, I love you.”

“I can’t breathe.”

And then Floyd’s last word. “Please.”

Last summer, there appeared to be vast new support for efforts to protect Black Americans and other people of color from a criminal justice system riddled with racial inequities. But now, it’s plain this groundswell didn’t translate into as much change as many had hoped. At least 229 Black people have been killed by police in the United States since exofficer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd — many in circumstances that also seem beyond belief.

Meanwhile, not nearly enough states have followed California’s lead and adopted laws raising standards on when police can use lethal force. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, only 12 states have passed such laws since Floyd’s death and only nine states have passed bans on chokeholds or other neck restraints. In the nation’s second-, third- and fourth-most populous states — Texas, Florida and New York, respectively — state lawmakers have to date balked at major changes. And 28 of the nation’s 100 largest police agencies still do not have policies requiring officers to intervene when they see a colleague using excessive force.

An analysis in The New York Times last month noted that more than 140 reforms had been enacted in more than 30 states. But it said that many of the laws are seen as weak and inadequate by reformers, who say they do little to address many police leaders’ resistance to accountability.

Reformers are also frustrated by what’s happening at the federal level. Hopes that a bipartisan coalition would emerge to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act were dashed in March when it narrowly got through the House on a near-partyline vote. It has now stalled in the Senate. It would have given local police agencies financial incentives to stop using chokeholds, banned “no-knock” warrants that often end in tragedy and, most controversially, limited the “qualified immunity” that police have from lawsuits over actions while on duty.

The San Diego Union-tribune Editorial Board has long backed police reforms but has been reluctant to support changes in qualified immunity. The concept of it may be suspect because it was based on a maddeningly vague 1967 U.S. Supreme Court ruling covering all public officials, not federal law. But the idea animating the protection — that police have an extraordinarily difficult job and deserve some deference — is not readily dismissed.

At a minimum, the Senate and House should talk about a compromise proposed by Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican senator. He says to make police agencies more accountable for violating individuals’ civil rights, the agencies — not the officers themselves — should be financially liable in lawsuits over officers’ conduct. This obviously doesn’t go as far as most Democrats and activists prefer. But at least it would give agencies stronger incentives to discourage misconduct. If a compromise on this issue can advance the measure passed by the House, it should be considered.

Unfortunately, with every passing day, it feels as if the momentum for profound change lessens, with police reform one more issue where Republicans and Democrats talk past each other. Given the stakes involved for millions of Americans who increasingly fear any interaction with police, this is unacceptable. Our nation must do better. Please.