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President Biden is expected to sign an executive order on Wednesday aimed at strengthening police accountability, a move that could revive federal reform efforts as the nation commemorates the second anniversary of George Floyd’s police assassination, according to several the ad.
Members of Floyd’s family, civil rights activists and law enforcement are expected to join the president at the White House for a signing ceremony at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Biden will call for the creation of national standards for the accreditation of police departments and a national database of officers with justified complaints and disciplinary proceedings, including those fired for misconduct, people reported on the matter said.
The executive order will also instruct federal law enforcement agencies to update their policies on the use of force. Advocates have been urging the White House to take such action since a comprehensive police reform bill failed in Congress last year. The bill was named after Floyd, an unarmed black man who died under the knees of a Minneapolis police officer who was later fired and convicted of murder.
“If you had asked me six months ago, I would have said that it is not yet time for an executive order because we should focus on federal law, George Floyd’s bill in particular,” said Damon Hewitt, president. and executive director of the Civil Rights Lawyers Committee under the Act. “But once this effort is sabotaged, the administration has grown as much as it can through executive action.”
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Biden’s executive order will authorize the Justice Department to use federal grant funding to encourage local police to tighten restrictions on the use of asphyxiation and non-detonation orders, which federal law enforcement agencies law enforcement have already taken. It will also impose new restrictions on the sale of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, said people familiar with the document, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because the order has not yet been issued. ‘had issued.
“We believe that this executive order should lay the groundwork for progress in a way that will standardize training and procedures and hopefully standardize policing across the country,” said Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order. National Police, who participated in negotiations with the White House and reported on the contents of the order. “And we hope it’s an element for the healing of the fractures that exist in some places between police officers and the communities they serve.”
The White House declined to comment.
Biden, who was on his way to Washington on Tuesday after a trip to Asia, will issue an order amid a rise in violent crime and concern among civil rights groups that the White House has lost its sense of urgency. around police reform.
He announced that he would take enforcement action on police reform through the executive authority last September after the collapse of federal law, which would have banned asphyxiation and non-detonation orders, banned racial profiling and removed qualified immunity for police officers.
But in a nation polarized by discussions about race and criminal justice, negotiations over order were intense. Police in January denounced a leaked draft saying there was “systemic racism” in the criminal justice system.
Pasco said the final version of the order includes “allusions to racism. But it’s all in the way it was presented. Significant changes have been made to the wording, to the policy statement.”
The White House does not have the power to make some changes that have long been demanded by defenders, such as getting rid of qualified immunity, which protects police officers from being sued individually for misconduct. Dozens of bills that would remove this immunity have also been rejected. Other changes, such as a ban on suffocation or stricter policies on when police can use force, also require action at the state or local level.
But Marc Morial, a former New Orleans mayor who is now president and chief executive of the National Urban League, called the order a “very important step.”
“We recognize that this process will not be easy,” Morial said. “This is a long struggle. I will accept this important first step of the president because it is a powerful statement and it reflects what he can do with his own executive branch.”
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Larry Cosme, president of the Association of Federal Law Enforcement Officers, said the order will have the most direct impact on the country’s 100,000 federal officers, given Biden’s ability to act unilaterally on Local and state police policies is limited.
But Cosme said the document could serve as a “national model for all law enforcement across the country. We’ve been involved in hundreds of hours of discussions, and this can inspire people in state and local departments to to say, “That’s what we need to do.”
He stressed that the order will include sections designed to provide more support for the well-being of officers, including mental health, and the recruitment and retention of officers at a time when many departments are facing low morale and scarcity. of staff.
“No agent wants anyone, neither the suspect nor the victim, to lose their lives,” Cosme said. “We want maximum security for everyone in the country.”
This is a developing story. It will be updated.