WASHINGTON, June 8 — US congressional Democrats today plan to unveil a sweeping package of legislation to combat police violence and racial injustice, after two weeks of protests across the nation sparked by George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody.
The proposal is expected to ban police chokeholds and racial profiling, require nationwide use of body cameras, subject police to civilian review boards and abolish the legal doctrine known as qualified immunity, which protects police from civil litigation, according to congressional sources.
“It is time for police culture in many departments to change,” Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Representative Karen Bass, told CNN yesterday.
She added that she hoped the wave of largely peaceful protests seen across the United States over the past two weeks would increase pressure on lawmakers to act.
“We’re in a real moment in our country, the passion that the people are displaying,” Bass added. “That it is going to lay the basis for the momentum for us to bring about the change that we need to do.”
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kamala Harris along with Bass are expected to discuss the bill at a 10.30am ET (1430 GMT) briefing.
It is unclear if the proposal will receive support from Republicans, who control the US Senate. Their support and that of Republican President Donald Trump would be needed for the measure to become law.
Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, where a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, was the latest in a string of killings of black men and women by US police that have sparked anger on America’s streets and fresh calls for reform.
A Reuters investigation published last month revealed how qualified immunity, refined over the years by the US Supreme Court, has made it easier for cops to kill or injure civilians with impunity. — Reuters
