One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
Biden Has A New Executive Order On Policing, 2 Years After George Floyd Was Killed
President Biden delivers remarks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on May 24, 2022, after a gunman shot dead 19 young children at an elementary school in Texas. Two adults, including a teacher, were also killed.
(
Stefani Reynolds
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
President Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday requiring new use-of-force rules for federal law enforcement and encouraging local police departments to make similar changes.
The measure is the product of months of consultations with police professional groups and reform activists. The executive order is the fallback position for the administration after Congress failed to agree last year on a package of reforms dubbed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Senior administration officials say relatives of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, will be present for the signing. Both Floyd and Taylor died during police action — Floyd while in Minneapolis Police custody and Taylor during a fast-entry police raid of her home in Louisville, Ky.
The order does not apply to local police agencies
The executive order instructs federal law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI and Customs and Border Protection, to revise their use-of-force policies. According to administration officials, the new federal minimum standard will allow force "only when no reasonably effective, safe and feasible alternative appears to exist."
The measure is a response to public outcry in recent years over certain police tactics. It forbids federal agents from using choke holds and carotid artery restraints "unless deadly force is authorized," after a neck hold by a New York police officer was blamed for the death of Eric Garner in 2014.
Sponsored message
The order also limits federal officers' use of "no-knock warrants," and requires federal law enforcement agencies to document publicly when and why they use no-knock warrants, and any injuries that result.
The president can't order local police agencies to follow suit, however. Instead, the executive order calls for incentives for changes by local departments, including the possibility that the new standards be a condition for some federal grants.
It will create a new database of officers fired for misconduct
The order also directs the Justice Department to create a new "national law enforcement accountability database," which would keep track of substantiated misconduct claims and disciplinary records of officers. Federal law enforcement will be required to submit their officers' records to the database, and to consult it when hiring new officers.
A protest following the April 20, 2021 conviction of Derek Chauvin, a white former Minneapolis police officer, for the murder of George Floyd.
(
Elijah Nouvelage
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
Local and state police agencies would be "able" to contribute to and consult the database.
Reformers say such a database could prevent officers who are fired for misconduct in one jurisdiction from finding new police jobs elsewhere. At least one study has found that such "wandering officers" are more likely to use excessive force.
Sponsored message
A privately-run database already exists, containing the names of about 40 thousand officers who've lost certification for misconduct, but in the absence of a federal mandate, only about one third of police departments ever check it when hiring new officers.
Biden's executive order also re-imposes Obama-era restrictions on federal transfers of military-grade equipment to local police, new national standards for police accreditation, and requires the use of body cameras by federal officers.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit npr.org.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
