WASHINGTON — A year after President Biden used his State of the Union address to celebrate billions of dollars in federal funding for police departments, this week the president took a different tone after adding a new one. Another was killed at the hands of law enforcement.
With Tire Nichols’ parents, who are black died after being beaten by the police in Memphis, sitting in the audience Tuesday night, Biden said in his annual address to Congress that it was time to “get the job done on police reform.”
“When police officers or police departments violate the public’s trust, they are held accountable,” Biden said. “All of us in this room, we need to rise to this point.”
Mr. Biden’s speech included one of the strongest calls for police accountability of his presidency, but many of his efforts to reform policy in the US remain incomplete. .
Mr. Biden, who was Deep relationship with police associations, tried to strike a balance on police reform as Republicans accused his administration of being soft on crime. He has rejected calls from some in his party to “defile the police,” instead calling on state and local governments to use money from the US Rescue Plan. hire more police officers and strengthen enforcement.
Biden’s State of the Union Message
Mr. Biden has also made some progress on reform: He has limited the transfer of military equipment that local police can receive from the federal government, an effort started by the Obama administration but has since ended. reversed under the Trump administration.
He directs each federal law enforcement agency to limit chokeholds and bans, and require agencies to establish new use of force standards in line with updated Justice Department policy.
And the White House is hoping to convince state and local agencies to adopt the new policies by leveraging millions of dollars in discretionary funding. The administration said it would prioritize funding ministries that revise their use of force policies.
The administration is still collecting applications and expects to begin issuing grants later this year. And many of the most ambitious goals of Biden and the Democrats in Congress are still underway, if not hopelessly stalled.
“Too many Blacks have died as a result of police violence, but I cannot name a single law that has been passed,” said Derrick Johnson, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. over to solve this problem. “We still need strong policies signed into law that will eventually end the horror of police brutality and hold officers accountable for their misconduct.”
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The President has repeatedly called for approval George Floyd Justice in the Police Act, only to have it held in Congress amid Republican opposition. The bill would impose new restrictions on the use of deadly force and remove legal protections, known as qualified immunity, that help protect police officers from violent crimes. civil lawsuit.
Members of Congress are in the early stages of negotiating a narrower police reform bill, although there is still little momentum behind these efforts.
Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and 2nd Democrat, said in an interview that he has begun talking with Senator Lindsey Graham, South Republican. Carolina and was the top Republican on the committee, on a cop. reform bill
Mr. Durbin said he believes the Senate should negotiate a deal to improve policy control even if House Republicans oppose it.
“We have to do our job and do it in a thoughtful, professional manner,” Mr. Durbin said.
In the absence of congressional action, the White House issued an executive order to Mr. Biden signed in May including a plan for a national database of fired police officers to prevent those who have committed repeated misconduct from being rehired elsewhere.
The administration has yet to complete development of the tool, although Biden directed the Justice Department to complete it by January of this year.
Critics say the database has a serious flaw: Mr. Biden could use his executive power to only require federal agencies to report their officials to the database. For local departments, like those involved in many recent violent incidents, reporting is optional.
“We don’t really have any accountability mechanism for that local law enforcement agency,” said Maya Wiley, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights. “It doesn’t touch that.”
The Justice Department has weighed in on how much police information it can put in its database without violating officers’ privacy, according to a senior administration official who requested anonymity for discussion. about delay.
Last week, members of the Black Caucus of Congress met with Biden after Nichols’ death and stressed the need for legislative and executive action to push for police reform. The White House declined to provide specific details on what additional actions it might take.
But Biden’s aides have repeatedly stressed that Congress must act to hold both federal and local police accountable.
