Trump signs police reform executive order that focuses on training
Trump signs police reform executive order that focuses on training, falls short of protesters’ demands
June 16, 2020 at 10:20 a.m. PDT
President Trump on Tuesday addressed the issue of police brutality by taking executive action that would provide incentives for police departments to increase training about the use of force and to strengthen a national database to track misconduct.
The president’s approach, which he announced at a Rose Garden event Tuesday afternoon, seeks to leverage federal grant money to encourage local departments to take action around a set of national “best practices.”
The executive order falls short of the more sweeping policy changes activists have called for following the death of a black man, George Floyd, in police custody in Minneapolis last month.
“Reducing crime and raising standards are not opposite goals,” Trump said in the Rose Garden.
“They are not mutually exclusive. They work together. ... That is why today I’m signing an executive order encouraging police departments nationwide to adopt the highest professional standards to serve their communities. These standards will be as high and as strong as there is on Earth.”
Trump said that just prior to the announcement, he had met with with family members of several black people who have been killed by police, including Atatiana Jefferson, Jemel Roberson, Michael Dean and others.
“To all of the hurting families, I want you to know that all Americans mourned by your side,” Trump said. “Your loved ones will not have died in vain.”
Members of those families were not present for Trump’s Rose Garden announcement, however, according to a guest list released by the White House.
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Trump’s executive order comes as the prospects for police reform legislation on Capitol Hill remain unsettled.
House Democrats are moving forward with a sweeping package that would ban police chokeholds, make it easier for victims of police violence to sue officers and departments and create a national database of police misconduct, among other measures. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to advance the bill Wednesday, preparing it for a floor vote next week.
Republicans in the Senate are assembling a package of their own, one that may have some overlap with the Democratic proposal but will likely take a far less aggressive approach.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who is leading the effort for Republicans and was among the lawmakers present at the Rose Garden ceremony, told reporters Monday that there remained partisan roadblocks on key issues -- including the possibility of overturning a federal court precedent barring individuals from suing police in most instances.
“What we need to do is find a path forward,” said Scott, who is the only Republican senator who is African American. “I don’t know that we’ve found that path forward yet. Because without the bill becoming law, whether it’s my bill or some version of some other bill, then we’ve kind of failed the moment.”
At Tuesday’s ceremony, Trump defended the police beyond what he called the “tiny” numbers of bad officers and reiterated his desire for states to use the National Guard to disrupt protests if they turn violent or include looting.
“Americans want law and order; they demand law and order,” he said, rebuffing calls from some activists to defund the police.
The president devoted a large part of his remarks to attacking the record of his predecessor, former president Barack Obama, and former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic 2020 presidential nominee.
He also touted steps taken by his administration that he said have benefited minority communities, including supporting historically black colleges and universities, creating “opportunity zones” and lowering the unemployment rate before the novel coronavirus pandemic began its sweep across the U.S.
Democrats responded to the news of Trump’s executive order by arguing that it is too little, too late.
“While the president has finally acknowledged the need for policing reform, one modest executive order will not make up for his years of inflammatory rhetoric and policies designed to roll back the progress made in previous years,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this executive order will not deliver the comprehensive meaningful change and accountability in our nation’s police departments that Americans are demanding.”
Scott said Monday the GOP legislation would overlap somewhat with Trump’s executive actions, such as on chokeholds. In both cases, the Republican approach is to enoucrage local departments and jurisdictions to ban chokeholds rather than flatly banning them nationally.
While there have been some bipartisan discussions, according to members and aides familiar with the talks, there is no formal effort to write a bipartisan bill underway. That has raised fears that the effort could end in a “side-by-side” outcome where Republicans and Democrats each present their own packages, with neither having the necessary support to be signed into law.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said Monday that both sides have laid out matters that they consider non-negotiable -- a bad omen for a possible deal.
“If that’s the way we start out, we probably don’t get to a very good conclusion, but maybe as we debate it the non-negotiables get more negotiable,” he said.
For many Democrats, overturning the court protection from lawsuits -- known as qualified immunity doctrine -- is among those red lines.
The Supreme Court on Monday decided not to revisit the doctrine, underscoring the necessity of Congress acting now for its opponents.
Three prominent members of the House Judiciary Committee -- Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) -- said in a statement Monday that the court’s punt “makes it all the more important for Congress to act.”
“It is long past time to remove this arbitrary and unlawful barrier and to ensure police are held accountable when they violate the constitutional rights of the people whom they are meant to serve,” they said.
Blunt, a member of the Senate leadership, said it was “hard to imagine” the Senate could vote before the July 4 holiday, meaning it could be a month before any legislation advances to Trump, even in the rosiest scenario.
“We could have a vote between now and the Fourth of July. But I think that would almost certainly indicate some side-by-side vote where nobody expects to win,” he said. “In my view, it would take longer than that to reach a conclusion.”
But Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) indicated that outcome is increasingly likely, saying he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pushes it to the floor as soon as next week.
“Hopefully it will represent, in the end, something that is going to attract a lot of Democrats and a presidential signature,” he said.
Scott said he spoke to Trump about the legislation on Sunday night, and he warned that any delay into July could sap precious momentum.
“I’m certainly going to push that we get it sooner than later,” he said. “The House is voting next week I think it is. I think us waiting a month before we vote is a bad decision.”
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