“It is beyond time to pass meaningful police reform.”
“…we have had a presidential task force that looked specifically at policing; a presidential commission that examined the entire criminal justice system; multiple investigations, reports, and assistance programs from the Department of Justice; and numerous joint efforts by police and civil rights organizations ….However, during this same time, a time of profound national need, the United States Congress has done nothing.” - IACP
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Worth noting: The quoted paragraph notes has already been going on for years and years. There’s also been a great deal of progress we never near about in the media—even without the Congressional action recommended in IACP’s statement.
And there will continue to be progress.
Part of the “progressive” mindset in it’s most intense form is, “Let’s change things as much as possible as quickly as possible.” Part of the conservative mindset in it’s most intense form is, “Let’s change as little as possible as slowly as possible, or maybe just not change.” There really does need to be some meeting in the middle to get some things done.
Sometimes perceptions become so caught up in a narrative it almost doesn’t matter anymore what the facts are—in this one sense: the perceptions have to be dealt with regardless of the realities. But there are realities to fix as well in this.
What they’re arguing is intriguing, but it might fall short for two reasons. First, we might find that cultures are different enough around the country that certain provisions would work in Alabama, but not in Alaska, and vice versa. Second, and related to the first, state legislatures and city councils might have some great ideas that wouldn’t have a chance of passing through Congress without data to prove them out—and that can only be done at the state and local level.
Or, put differently, the last big federal move with regards to the local police that comes to mind is the 1994 crime bill. One size fits all and federal implementation is not always, or even generally, a good thing.
What I do notice, having just looked up Minnesota law, is that I can’t find a law that clearly criminalizes excessive use of force by the police. Closest I can come at this point is 609.43, where it criminalizes “intentionally and unlawfully” injuring a person, which of course presumes that another law criminalizes that behavior specifically for a police officer. It’s a high hurdle to clear, in my view, and unless I miss it, I think it would be good if states made clear what kind of actions cross the line. Could have spared Minneapolis a TON of trouble last summer if the prosecutors could have simply shown the accused chapter & verse of how kneeling on a guy four minutes after he lost consciousness violated the law, no?
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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