Two years after the death of George Floyd, Congress has yet to pass any major legislation to reform America's federal policing practices, even though cities, states, and even former President Trump have taken some actions.
Protesters march in New York City.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 was introduced by Democrats after Floyd's murder.
The bill died in the Senate because of disagreements over several provisions.
After Floyd's death, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that created a federal database of fired police officers and aimed to financially incentivize law enforcement to ban chokeholds.
More than 20 states and the District of Columbia made changes in at least one of three areas related to Floyd's killing.
San Francisco instituted a crisis response team to answer behavioral health calls instead of police, and New York City ended immunity for police officers.
According to the Brennan Center, at least a dozen cities, including Austin and Los Angeles, promised to slash police budgets to redistribute funds to community programs in the aftermath of Floyd's death. In interviews with the New York Times several months later, several council members pledged to end policing in the city. The council approved $6.4 million to hire police officers.
Biden will sign an executive order on police reform on Wednesday in order to go further than Trump. The order will help establish a national database of officers who have been fired for improper conduct, will encourage local departments to institute similar reforms, and will direct federal law enforcement agencies to change their use-of-force policies. Efforts to launch a national database to track excessive force as a part of Trump's executive policing order were put on hold during his presidency. Senior administration officials told reporters that relatives of Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who were killed by Louisville police officers in March 2020 during a bungled raid at their home, will be present for Biden's signing of the bill.
Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground with his knee on his neck, ignoring Floyd's pleas. Floyd's killing sparked nationwide protests on police brutality and calls for accountability in American policing. Despite the widespread protests, Congress has failed to pass major reforms in the wake of Floyd's death, and Biden is unable to pass some of the reforms via executive orders. The new executive order was scaled back after an earlier draft version that leaked in January sparked outrage from policing groups, with whom the White House consulted more closely in the aftermath of the leak.
We know that an executive order cannot address America's policing crisis the same way Congress can, but we have to do everything we can.
Two years after Floyd's death, there is little movement on police reform in Washington.
The New York Times reported on how a pledge to dismantle the Minneapolis Police collapsed.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Biden would sign an executive order promoting police accountability.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
