Justice in Policing Act of 2020

https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/justice_in_policing_act_of_2020.pdf

https://judiciary.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3005

Generalized Breakdown:



Prohibits federal, state, and local law enforcement from racial, religious and discriminatory profiling, and mandates training on racial, religious, and discriminatory profiling for all law enforcement.

Bans chokeholds, carotid holds and no-knock warrants at the federal level and limits the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement.

Mandates the use of dashboard cameras and body cameras for federal offices and requires state and local law enforcement to use existing federal funds to ensure the use of police body cameras.

Establishes a National Police Misconduct Registry to prevent problematic officers who are fired or leave on agency from moving to another jurisdiction without any accountability.

Amends federal criminal statute from “willfulness” to a “recklessness” standard to successfully identify and prosecute police misconduct.

Reforms qualified immunity so that individuals are not barred from recovering damages when police violate their constitutional rights.

Establishes public safety innovation grants for community-based organizations to create local commissions and task forces to help communities to re-imagine and develop concrete, just and equitable public safety approaches.

Creates law enforcement development and training programs to develop best practices and requires the creation of law enforcement accreditation standard recommendations based on President Obama’s Task force on 21st Century policing.

Requires state and local law enforcement agencies to report use of force data, disaggregated by race, sex, disability, religion, age.

Improves the use of pattern and practice investigations at the federal level by granting the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division subpoena power and creates a grant program for state attorneys general to develop authority to conduct independent investigations into problematic police departments.

Establishes a Department of Justice task force to coordinate the investigation, prosecution and enforcement efforts of federal, state and local governments in cases related to law enforcement misconduct.

"Revising federal law on criminal police misconduct and qualified immunity reform:

The new bill would change one very significant word in federal law when it comes to prosecuting police: “willful.” That word means prosecutors charging police have to demonstrate there was willful intent on the part of the police officer to kill or harm someone — which can be extremely difficult to prove and successfully prosecute. The bill would change the word “willful” to the phrase “knowingly or with reckless disregard.” It would also define a “death resulting” as any act that was a “substantial factor contributing to the death” of an individual."

"Ban no-knock warrants in drug cases at the federal level:

The use of a no-knock search warrant in Louisville on March 13 had fatal consequences. Police shot and killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor after using a battering ram to break down her door and exchanging fire with Taylor’s boyfriend. The police were executing a search warrant for a drug case, pursuing two other men, but broke down Taylor’s door because they believed the men were receiving packages at her apartment. The Democratic bill would ban these kinds of no-knock warrants in federal drug cases, but also condition federal funding for state and local law enforcement agencies on prohibiting their use as well.

"Ban chokeholds at the federal level:

In 2014, Eric Garner was killed by New York police, who used a chokehold to restrain him during an arrest. And in May, Floyd died after a police officer placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes.

The legislation would put a federal ban in place on the use of police chokeholds, which is defined by the bill as an act putting pressure on an individual’s throat or windpipe that impedes their ability to breathe. Such bans have already been supported by localities across the country including, most recently, Minneapolis.

A federal chokehold ban would further condemn the use of this tactic by police and give the Justice Department more power to levy charges against law enforcement officers that use this maneuver. Activists have raised questions about the efficacy of such bans: Despite the New York Police Department banning chokeholds in 1993, police using the method killed Eric Garner in 2014."

"Establish a national registry of misconduct by law enforcement officers:

There’s currently very little data available about police misconduct, making it difficult to pin down past offenders and ensure that they don’t receive jobs in new places. According to a USA Today report, punishment for misconduct also varies at the state level, with some requiring police to decertify while others are far less punitive. Creating a national registry about misconduct would enable lawmakers to better understand its frequency and craft targeted responses to combat it."

"Require states to report use of force to the Justice Department:

Similarly, little is currently known about the frequency with which police officers currently use force, something the bill is striving to change. By mandating state documentation of use of force, law enforcement agencies can begin to determine how often police are engaging in such actions."

"Mandate racial bias training at the federal level:

A reform that’s been implemented in some police stations across the country, racial bias training is aimed at getting law enforcement officers to recognize their own explicit and implicit biases — and how these attitudes affect the way they respond in different situations. Researchers have found implicit racial biases could be tied to officers being quicker to shoot black subjects versus white subjects. The training involves providing officers with evidence of these biases playing out so they are forced to recognize their existence.

In addition to requiring it at the federal level, the bill would condition funding for state and local police based on their commitment to implementing racial bias training programs. Among critics of racial bias training, questions remain about how effective it is in deterring police abuses and disparate use of force."

"Require that deadly force only be used as last resort:

The bill would change the use of force standard for federal officers from “reasonableness” to only when it is necessary to either prevent death or “serious bodily injury.” It would require federal officers to use deescalation techniques and only resort to force as a last resort, and would condition federal funds to state and local agencies on their adoption of the same standard."

"Make lynching a federal crime:

The killings of both Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, a black jogger who was shot by two white men in Georgia while he was out on a run, have been described as modern-day lynchings. Despite more than 200 attempts to consider bills addressing such acts, there remains no law on the books classifying lynchings as a federal crime.

While the House and Senate have respectively passed their own legislation that would do so, the two have yet to approve one bill and get it signed into law. This bill would guarantee that lynching — described by Hoyer as “the premeditated, extrajudicial killing by a mob or group of people to instill fear” — would be treated as a federal crime. It would also classify conspiring to commit civil rights offenses, such as a hate crime, as a lynching.

"Require police to use more body and dashboard cameras:

The bill would require federal police officers to wear body cameras and put dashboard cameras on all federal police vehicles. It requires state and local departments to use existing federal funds to increase body camera use, which has been on the rise since the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. However, research has shown that more cameras aren’t the whole story; police don’t always turn them on or review the footage while writing an incident report, and footage is not always made public."

THIS ONE IS BIG...

"Limit the transfer of military equipment to local police departments:

Currently, the military is able to distribute excess equipment including armored vehicles and ammunition to local law enforcement agencies. The bill would prohibit the distribution of equipment like drones and armored vehicles."

Minneapolis has one of the most intensive crisis intervention training in the country, training its officers on de-escalation tactics, as well as following other reforms outlined in Obama's recommended improvements to training circa 2015... (https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf)

Doesn't seem to have helped... has it.

We need to defund the police and put that money towards community based programs, housing, mental health, health care, education, that will better serve the community.

Pouring more money and training on these officers doesn't change anything when the blue code of silence and police unions protect them from any misconduct.

Posted by LadyNeptune

Minneapolis has one of the most intensive crisis intervention training in the country, training its officers on de-escalation tactics, as well as following other reforms outlined in Obama's recommended improvements to training circa 2015... (https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf)

Doesn't seem to have helped... has it.

We need to defund the police and put that money towards community based programs, housing, mental health, health care, education, that will better serve the community.

Pouring more money and training on these officers doesn't change anything when the blue code of silence and police unions protect them from any misconduct.

Very cool. Thanks.

There is more to this bill than just "training".

House Judiciary Committee testimonies..

https://www.c-span.org/video/?472839-2/house-judiciary-committee-hearing-police-reform-part-2&vod

Posted by Aliensusedourbogroll

Posted by _Dazed

"Require police to use more body and dashboard cameras:The bill would require federal police officers to wear body cameras and put dashboard cameras on all federal police vehicles. It requires state and local departments to use existing federal funds to increase body camera use, which has been on the rise since the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. However, research has shown that more cameras aren’t the whole story; police don’t always turn them on or review the footage while writing an incident report, and footage is not always made public."

Will they be required to

A) Turn them on

B) Keep them on.

click to expand

I still need to read through the legislation to see the actual verbiage.

Is there anything in it, that talks about police unions?

There needs to be some sort of reform, disallowing unions from having administrative rights, or abolishing them all together.

And is there anything about an outside review for complaint reviews, etc? Internal Affairs is a joke.

Posted by nikkistar

Is there anything in it, that talks about police unions?

There needs to be some sort of reform, disallowing unions from having administrative rights, or abolishing them all together.

And is there anything about an outside review for complaint reviews, etc? Internal Affairs is a joke.

I still need to read through the legislation to see the actual verbiage.

Posted by _Dazed

Posted by nikkistar

Is there anything in it, that talks about police unions?

There needs to be some sort of reform, disallowing unions from having administrative rights, or abolishing them all together.

And is there anything about an outside review for complaint reviews, etc? Internal Affairs is a joke.

I still need to read through the legislation to see the actual verbiage.

click to expand

If it ends up not being in there, then it needs to be. Nothing is going to change unless they start getting rid of the unions' power.