A jury found former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter of George Floyd.
Tuesday afternoon, there was a giant sigh of relief thoughout the nation. Millions of Americans of all hues rejoiced.
Wednesday and Beyond
Nothing much has changed in America. “Shoot to Kill” is still the policy of most law enforcement agencies.
Terminated Police Officers due to bad behavior continue to be re-hired in other cities. Police Unions with deep pockets ,continue to have influence on City Councilmembers.
Few law enforcement agencies have included race sensitivity courses in their training.
Even fewer cities have created meaningful channels between its law enforcement agencies and its citizens.
There is a segment of the population who believe the relationship blacks have with the police would end if they simply stop being criminals and stop resisting police because ineivitably those who fight with police will be killed.
Others believe the breakdown is poor parenting. Blacks should teach children to respect authority.
There is a segment of the population who equates “Black Lives Matter” with black looting and crime. Others who say it’s difficult to support George Floyd because protesters burnt Minneapolis to the ground.
These are just some of the comments on Facebook Tuesday evening.
Comprehensive Police Reform
In most communities Police reform is a concept on the to do list.
On June 25th 2020 the house passed HR7120- The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act The law would end racial profiling.Establish a national standard for the operation of police departments, mandate data collection on police encounters. Reprogram existing funds to invest in transformative community-based policing programs; and streamline federal law to prosecute excessive force and establish independent prosecutors for police investigations. In addition, the law……
Works to End Racial & Religious Profiling
• Prohibits federal, state, and local law enforcement from racial, religious and discriminatory profiling.
• Mandates training on racial, religious, and discriminatory profiling for all law enforcement.
• Requires law enforcement to collect data on all investigatory activities.
Save Lives by Banning Chokeholds & No-Knock Warrants
• Bans chokeholds and carotid holds at the federal level and conditions law enforcement funding for state and local
governments banning chokeholds.
• Bans no-knock warrants in drug cases at the federal level and conditions law enforcement funding for state and local
governments banning no-knock warrants at the local and state level.
• Requires that deadly force be used only as a last resort and requires officers to employ de-escalation techniques first.
Changes the standard to evaluate whether law enforcement use of force was justified from whether the force was
“reasonable” to whether the force was “necessary.” Condition grants on state and local law enforcement agencies’
establishing the same use of force standard.
Limit Military Equipment on American Streets & Requires Body Cameras
• Limits the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement.
• Requires federal uniformed police officers to wear body cameras and requires state and local law enforcement to use
existing federal funds to ensure the use of police body cameras.
• Requires marked federal police vehicles to have dashboard cameras.
Hold Police Accountable in Court
• Makes it easier to prosecute offending officers by amending the federal criminal statute to prosecute police misconduct. The
mens rea requirement in 18 U.S.C. Section 242 will be amended from “willfulness” to a “recklessness” standard.
• Enables individuals to recover damages in civil court when law enforcement officers violate their constitutional rights by
eliminating qualified immunity for law enforcement
While this law has been endorsed by more than an hundred civil rights organizations, including Amnesty International, NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union, the law never advanced to the Senate. It has been blocked by Republicans who believe the law was too extreme and the bill died.
The Republican version on the law, would introduce incentives for states and localities to change police practices (by limiting chokeholds and promoting the use of body cameras), it would not restrict the qualified-immunity doctrine, however it would not ban chokeholds or otherwise federally restrict police use of deadly force, and would not restrict no-knock warrants.
Police Unions and other organizations representing police oppose the bill. Former President Trump, said the Democratic version “overbroad” and would “weaken the ability of law enforcement agencies to reduce crime.” Trump specifically opposed proposals to restrict qualified immunity.
The law was reintroduced this year and again cleared congress without any support from the Republicans. As it stands, the law would need 10 Republicans in the Senate for the bill to become law.
The Morning After
The verdict may have energized the Black Lives Movement. Many Republicans joined their Democratic counterparts supporting the verdict.
“There is no doubt in my mind that jury reached the right verdict,” Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina
“Today, the American judicial system worked once again,” Rep. María Elvira Salazar of Florida tweeted.
Not everyone. ” BLM has now proven itself to be the most powerful domestic terrorists organization in our country” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green on Florida, tweeted.
Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis says Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd because the jury was influenced by leftists to make him “pay for the sins of white people, collectively.”
Millions of Americans saw the bad man get his. Perhaps renewing faith in our Justice system. The Justice Department is investigating Minneapolis Police Department. Republicans is calling for Rep Maxine Waters head for inciting a riot. A young black woman was killed by police in Ohio. Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine that a police reform bill is in the works. It Wednesday.
CityFella
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