Washington Democrats back bill to curtail police use of excessive force
The Democrats in Washington's congressional delegation are lining up behind a sweeping bill aimed at curtailing excessive use of force by police and establishing a national data base to track and prosecute misconduct.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer introduced the legislation Monday with strong Congressional Black Caucus support. Republicans have not yet been heard along Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, a Black senator who is promising his own proposals later this week.
"All throughout our region and across this country, people are demanding change to end police brutality and ensue accountability and justice: While there is no single policy that will erase decades of systematic racism and to reform policing, this legislation is a good first step toward driving real change," said Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., a cosponsor of the Justice in Policing Act.
In a Senate floor speech, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., another cosponsor, said:
"It is time that we not just speak out about injustice ; it's time that we pass new federal laws to protect the civil liberties of United States citizens and protect them from these injustices."
With 35 Senate cosponsors and 166 from the House, the legislation would:
— Prohibit 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;
— Ban choke holds, carotic holds and no-knock warrants at the federal level and limits the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local police;
— Mandates the use of dashboard casmeras and body cameras for federal officers and requires state and local law enforcement to use existing federal money to ensure the use of police body cameras;
— Establish a National Police Misconduct Registry to prevent problematic officers who are fired or leave an agency from moving to another jurisdiction, without accountability;
— Amend federal criminal statutes from "willfulness" to "recklessness" standard to successfully identify and prosecute police misconduct;
— Reform qualified immunity so that individuals are not prohibited from recovering damages when police iolate their constitutional rights."
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., another bill cosponsor, said the legislation "includes necessary, life-saving reforms to halt police violence and restore confidence in law enforcement."
The Democrats have votes in the House to pass the Justice in Policing Act. It then goes to a 53-47 Republican-run Senate and faces Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell has sought political advantage in blasting "Defund the Police" proposals. As a young man, however, he interned with Sen. John Sherman Cooper — a Republican backer of the 1964 Civil Rights Act — and attended the 1963 March on Washington. He has strayed far from ideals of his early days.
In an election year, with Republicans' control of the Senate in jeopardy, backers hope that the "World's Greatest Deliberative Body" will get to deliberate over the proposed law.
"The deaths of George Floyd and other victims of police brutality have started a movement that has mobilized our nation," said Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash. "It is past time for Congress to make meaningful change to this broken system . . . and transform the culture of policing in the United States."
Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash., leaving Congress and running for lieutenant governor, reflected on the legislation, intensely pushed by the Congressional Black Caucus:
"I will never know what it is like to see flashing lights or hear a siren and wonder whether the people entrusted with my protection will truly protect me, or whether they will see me as a threat. Yet that is a thought shared by so many African Americans every single day."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., will discuss the legislation at a 6 p.m. town hall on Wednesday. It will be steamed live at Facebook.com/Rep. Jayapal
And Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, declared: "I've been talking to people all over Washington state about how we begin working to address our country's legacy of racism and anti-Blackness, and I know the path toward solutions and healing cannot be paved by the same violence that got us here."
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., did tell the Spokesman-Review: "I want justice for George Floyd. He should be alive today." She described Floyd's death, ath the hands of Minneapolis cops, as "heart wrenching."
By: Joel Connelly
Source: Seattle Pi