What federal police reform could include — And what the sticking points may be

• By Domenico Montanaro/NPR

After almost three weeks of demonstrations following the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, America seems to be at a threshold moment.

Polling shows attitudes shifting more in favor of protesters and embracing the potential for change when it comes to how policing is done in this country.

Police departments in at least half a dozen states have already moved to make reforms, but when it comes to sweeping national change, it’s not clear how far Washington will go.

Many protesters have made “Defund The Police” a rallying cry, but most Democrats on Capitol Hill — and the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Joe Biden — have stayed away from that language.

Instead, House Democrats introduced a bill that would, among its provisions:

• ban chokeholds at the federal level and condition federal funding on state and local governments doing the same;
• ban no-knock warrants in federal drug cases and tie federal funding to state and local governments banning them too;
• weaken “qualified immunity” and make it easier to pursue criminal and civil action against police;
• create a national registry of police misconduct;
• require body cameras for federal law enforcement officers and require that state and local forces ensure camera use as well;
• make it easier to have independent investigations of police departments;
• and, make lynching a federal hate crime.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll of U.S. adults, conducted last week, found broad support for a lot of those items:

• 82% support banning chokeholds;
• 75% support “allowing victims of police misconduct to sue police departments for damages”;
• 92% support requiring federal police to wear body cameras;
• and 91% support independent investigations of police departments that show patterns of misconduct.

(The survey did not ask about no-knock warrants or lynching.)

Republicans, who are holding a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on police reform, are set to release their own legislation this week. The effort is led by Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only black Republican in the U.S. Senate.

Scott talked about some of those sticking-point legislative items on two Sunday political shows:

• No-knock warrants: He didn’t appear ready to get rid them altogether and said he needs more information on when and how they’re used, and he wants more data to be required. (Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, the libertarian-leaning Republican, introduced a bill to eliminate their use.)
• Chokeholds and misconduct registries: Scott said on NBC’s Meet The Press that chokeholds were a “policy whose time has come and gone,” but questioned whether there should be a state or national approach to getting rid of their use, as well as implementing misconduct registries.
• Qualified immunity: He said on CBS’s Face The Nation that for Republicans and the president, weakening the immunity is “off the table” and that they see it “as a poison pill on our side.” He said he would be more in favor of “decertification” of officers, but police unions are an obstacle there.

Scott has said his bill would include making lynching a federal hate crime, and he wants to establish a commission on effective policies that lead to better outcomes that includes former and current police officers and civilians.

I've been working on police reform legislation for years. Now is the time to pass a solution. The #JUSTICEAct addresses officer misconduct, brings improved training and tactics, and collects critical information on incidents relating to bodily injury and death. pic.twitter.com/j4EotrqiBV

— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) June 14, 2020

It’s unclear what legislation President Trump would sign. At a roundtable on law enforcement last week in Dallas, Trump said he’d sign an executive order that would “encourage police departments nationwide to meet the most current professional standards for the use of force, including tactics for deescalation.”

But he fumbled over whether he would be in favor of banning chokeholds. During a Fox News interview in which he claimed to have “done more for the black community than any other president” except maybe Abraham Lincoln, he said he doesn’t like chokeholds.

“Generally speaking, they should be ended,” Trump said.

But then he indicated that he doesn’t really want to limit the police: “You get somebody in a chokehold, and what are you going to do now? Let go and say, ‘Oh, let’s start all over again. I’m not allowed to have you in a chokehold’?”