TOKYO (Reuters) – President Biden is expected to issue an executive order Wednesday to reform the federal police two years after the death of George Floyd, who died after being chained and nailed to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer.
The order will direct all federal agencies to review their policies on the use of force, establish a national register of officers fired for misconduct, use grants to encourage state and local police to tighten suffocation restrictions and orders for reckless action, and to limit the transfer of most military equipment to law enforcement, people said. They requested anonymity to discuss the details of the order before it was announced.
The White House and the Department of Justice have been working on the order since last year, when efforts to reach a bipartisan compromise on a national police oversight failed in the Senate. Mr Biden’s executive order is expected to be more limited than this bill, a sign of the balancing act the president is trying to orient itself in criminal justice.
While Mr Floyd’s death and the national protest movement it inspired helped drastically change public opinion on race and police in the summer of 2020, Republicans have also launched political attacks that portray Democrats as enemies of law enforcement.
Neither country is likely to like the order at all – many progressive activists still want tighter restrictions and accountability measures for the police, even as the rise in violent crime in some cities has turned into a republican attack. by-elections.
However, officials believe the order, the final text of which was carefully guarded after an earlier draft expired earlier this year, will receive some support from both activists and police.
Mr Biden plans to sign the new executive order, along with Mr Floyd’s relatives and police officers, which is expected to be among his first official actions after returning from a diplomatic trip to South Korea and Japan this week.
Police groups were particularly upset by several points in the earlier 18-page bill when it went public in January, prompting them to complain that the White House had given them only a superficial chance of implementation. They threatened to withdraw their support, leading to a serious re-launch of the process by the White House’s internal political council, led by Susan Rice.
In the months since, the White House has worked more closely with police and Justice Department officials, who have more experience in staying between police reform and law enforcement management, as the administration has taken a more centrist stance on criminal justice.
“The White House has made significant contacts with us and tried to listen to our concerns,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executors Research Forum, a bipartisan think tank that focuses on police practices. “This final enforcement order is significantly different from the original version, and it has made a big difference to many of us in law enforcement.”
Mr Biden has repeatedly emphasized the message of investing in policing rather than taking money – entering a national debate over whether the government should give police departments more resources or spend money on mental health and other social services instead.
One of the changes reflected in the executive order, according to those familiar with the final version, focuses on what it will say about the standards of use of force.
The administration came up with a language that would allow federal law enforcement agents to use lethal force “only as a last resort when there is no reasonable alternative, in other words, only when necessary to prevent immediate and serious bodily injury or death.” The earlier version would also encourage state and local police to adopt the same standard using federal discretionary subsidies.
Law enforcement officials have complained that the standard will allow for reconsideration of employees’ decisions in urgent circumstances. The final order instead refers to a policy issued by the Ministry of Justice this week that officers may shoot at suspects when they have “a reasonable belief that the object of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury to the employee or otherwise.” face. ”
Jim Pascoe, executive director of the Fraternal Order of the Police, said he believed the new language for the use of force “would bring more clarity and better guidance to employees”, but without making them so prone to risk that fail to protect others when necessary.
“It’s not about being stricter or less strict,” Mr Pascoe said. “It’s a matter of a better framework. And a better definition of the use of force. ”
He added: “This is not a maritime change.”
Woody Ofer, deputy national political director of the American Civil Liberties Union, offered cautious support for the Justice Department’s policy, saying much would depend on the way it is conducted.
“Proper implementation of this standard will be key to its success,” he said. “We have seen jurisdictions with strong standards, where employees still resort to the use of deadly force, so these words on paper alone will not be enough. The whole culture and mentality needs to change in order for these words to come to life and save lives. “
According to people familiar with the matter, the administration will also include guidelines for screening inherent biases among the ranks, including those that potentially support white views.
Some provisions in the order would build on previous efforts by the Department of Justice, including requiring federal law enforcement agents to wear body cameras. The order will also direct the government to expand data collection, including incidents of force, across the country, and will try to standardize and improve the accreditation of police agencies.
Katie Banner contributed to a report from Washington.
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