The House is giving justice to George Floyd with a new police reform bill.
George Floyd’s death sparked global outrage after the 46-year-old was killed when a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck for almost 8 minutes.
Nine months after his brutal killing, House lawmakers proposed wide-ranging legislation that would make it easier to pursue claims of police misconduct.
The bill would ban police chokeholds and carotid holds, prohibit no-knock warrants (like the one that resulted in the unjust killing of Breonna Taylor), prohibit racial and religious profiling, mandate body-cameras and dashboard cameras for police and create a national database to track police misconduct.
But the most important provision is the elimination of qualified immunity, which makes it virtually impossible for police officers to be held for misconduct and murder.
NPR reports that Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), who sponsored and introduced the bill, said in a statement after its passing, “Never again should an unarmed individual be murdered or brutalized by someone who is supposed to serve and protect them. Never again should the world be subject to witnessing what we saw happen to George Floyd in the streets in Minnesota.”
“I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate and across the aisle to ensure that substantive police reform arrives at the President’s desk,” she also said.
President Biden, who helped write the infamous 1994 crime law, claims he’s looking forward to approving a landmark police reform.
“To make our communities safer, we must begin by rebuilding trust between law enforcement and the people they are entrusted to serve and protect. We cannot rebuild that trust if we do not hold police officers accountable for abuses of power and tackle systemic misconduct—and systemic racism—in police departments,” the White House said on Wednesday.
What are your thoughts on the George Floyd police reform bill?
