Republicans Scramble To Craft Police Reform Legislation Amid Bipartisan Public Pressure
Congressional Republicans were caught off guard by their constituents' demands for police reform. They've picked Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the lone black lawmaker in their ranks, to take the lead. Meanwhile, cities and states across the country are considering or passing legislation as new examples of police violence comes to light.
The New York Times:
G.O.P. Scrambles To Respond To Public Demands For Police Overhaul
Congressional Republicans, caught flat-footed by an election-year groundswell of public support for overhauling policing in America to address systemic racism, are struggling to coalesce around a legislative response. Having long fashioned themselves as the party of law and order, Republicans have been startled by the speed and extent to which public opinion has shifted under their feet in recent days after the killings of unarmed black Americans by the police and the protests that have followed. The abrupt turn has placed them on the defensive. (Edmondson and Fandos, 6/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
Republicans Craft Own Police-Overhaul Proposals
The Republicans’ plan will respond to the “obvious racial discrimination that we have seen on full display on our television screens over the last two weeks,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.). The early support for legislative changes could quickly fizzle in an election year or be derailed by policy debates. But Republicans said there was a new willingness to engage on the issue, and recent polls have shown broad public concern over police treatment of black Americans. (Peterson and Duehren, 6/9)
The Washington Post:
McConnell Taps Lone Black GOP Senator To Lead Republican Effort On Police Reform
Senate Republicans have tapped the lone black lawmaker in their ranks to draft legislation on police reform amid a public outcry and dramatic shift in opinion about law enforcement in the wake of George Floyd’s death. The fate of Floyd — a black man who suffocated under the weight of a white police officer’s knee more than two weeks ago — and the subsequent protests that flared across the country have prompted scrutiny of racial injustice in policing and demands for action. (DeBonis, Kim and Itkowitz, 6/9)
Politico:
Republicans Eye Police Reform — And Search For Trump's Blessing
“Donald Trump … has great respect for Tim Scott. He looks to him a lot for this kind of a thing,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). Trump “isn’t going to lead on it right now. But he could get behind it.” Republicans have had mixed success waiting for Trump to get them across the finish line on controversial issues. Add in a pandemic and a presidential campaign in which Trump is touting his law-and-order bona fides and a deal faces steep odds. But without Trump, police reform doesn’t have a shot in a critical moment for the movement. (Everett, Zanona and McGraw, 6/9)
Reuters:
Washington, D.C. Approves Police Reforms After Days Of Protests Against Racism
The district council for Washington, D.C. on Tuesday approved a raft of police reforms after days of protests against police brutality and racism in the U.S. capital and nationwide, sparked by the death of African-American George Floyd in police custody. The emergency legislation, approved by a unanimous vote, comes as a number of cities rethink approaches to policing but falls short of calls by some civil rights activists to defund city police departments. (6/9)
The Washington Post:
D.C. Council Passes Police Reform Legislation
The unanimous action, part of a nationwide response to the protest movement, infuriated the D.C. police union yet left activists clamoring for more drastic steps, including a reduction in the police budget. The emergency legislation — which includes a ban on the use of chemical irritants or rubber bullets on peaceful protesters — passed with a veto-proof majority, despite a stern letter from Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) that urged lawmakers to slow down and hold public hearings. (Zauzmer and Nirappil, 6/9)
The Washington Post:
Two Years After Her Son Was Shot By D.C. Police, A Mother Hopes Reforms Bring Answers
Hundreds of protesters who minutes earlier had been dancing in the street fell silent when Kenithia Alston described the fatal shooting of her son by D.C. police. Her voice breaking, Alston detailed a futile effort to get information about his killing and a more than year-long, unsuccessful fight to persuade Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) to publicly release body-camera footage. (Chason and Hermann, 6/9)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Police Killings: Tracking Homicides In Los Angeles County Since 2000
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, The Times has compiled a database of cases where people died at the hands of law enforcement in Los Angeles County. Since 2000, there have been nearly 900 killings by local police that were ruled a homicide by county medical examiners. Almost all of the dead were men, nearly 80% were black or Latino. More than 98% were shot to death. (6/9)
The Associated Press:
Videos Of Black Men Dying In Custody Surface In OK, LA
Videos of Black men dying or being beaten in police custody have surfaced in Oklahoma and Louisiana, including one of a man who told officers: “I can’t breathe.” That footage, from a May 2019 arrest in Oklahoma City, was eerily similar to video showing George Floyd’s death last month in Minneapolis police custody, which has ignited massive peaceful protests and scattered violence in cities across the U.S. Floyd, a Black man who was unarmed and handcuffed, pleaded for air as a white officer pressed a knee on his neck for several minutes. (6/10)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SF District Attorney Boudin Expands Services To Help People Victimized By Police Violence
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin launched a new policy Tuesday that expands the scope of his office to include services to crime victims and witnesses of police violence.In San Francisco and elsewhere, violent confrontations with police are often documented only from the perspective of an officer’s report. Boudin said this narrative has effectively excluded victims of police wrongdoing from the types of aid afforded to other crime victims, including funeral expenses, medical expenses and mental health counseling. (Cassidy, 6/9)
Boston Globe:
Behind Calls To Defund Police, A Refrain Long-Held By Police Themselves
As calls to defund police departments around the country have risen in the wake of the killing of a Black man, George Floyd, by a white officer from the department where Davis once served, activists are echoing something police themselves have long maintained: The police cannot fix all of society’s problems, from mental health crises to homelessness to students misbehaving in school. (Lotan, 6/9)
Dallas Morning News:
Most Dallas Council Members Consider Defunding The Police And Using Money For Other Services
In the past, the Dallas City Council has strongly supported the police department. Nine months ago it unanimously approved a $517 million police operating budget that beefed up salaries for midcareer officers. But as the council tries to address ongoing demonstrations against police violence, more members say they’re open to “defunding” — or reallocating resources from public safety into other city services. (Norimine, 6/9)
Stateline:
After George Floyd, Some School Districts Cut Ties With Police
Some school leaders want to replace the armed officers who patrol school hallways with nurses, counselors or unarmed guards — who, they say, can help keep students safe without reminding them of police officers who have killed George Floyd and other unarmed black people. The Minneapolis Board of Education and the school superintendent of Portland, Oregon, both announced last week that they’ll no longer hire police officers. Denver is poised to follow, and student protesters are calling for similar changes from Phoenix to Chicago amid nationwide anti-racism protests and, increasingly, calls to reduce the funding and responsibilities of police departments. (Quinton, 6/10)
And the issue could shape the 2020 election —
NPR:
Joe Biden Has Come A Long Way On Criminal Justice Reform. Progressives Want More
Former Vice President Joe Biden has mostly responded to the aftermath of George Floyd's death by contrasting his governing and leadership style with President Trump's. But the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has also laced his speeches, interviews and campaign statements with policy specifics. Biden has called for a federal ban on police chokeholds, a new federal police oversight commission, new national standards for when and how police use force, more mandatory data collection from local law enforcement, and more power for the Department of Justice to investigate local police departments, among other changes. (Detrow, 6/10)
Politico:
Trump’s MAGA Base Finds Its Own Rallying Cry: Defend The Police
First, it was socialism. Then it was antifa. Now, with the latest protests sweeping the nation, President Donald Trump’s base has found its newest foil: the snowballing movement to drastically reduce the size and budgets of police departments to constrain discriminatory law-enforcement practices. The rallying cry of the far left is now becoming the rallying cry of the right, energizing the MAGA movement to defend the police. (Nguyen, 6/10)
Detroit Free Press:
Whitmer Says She Supports 'The Spirit' Of 'Defund The Police,' Then Clarifies
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in an interview Tuesday she supports "the spirit" of defunding the police as a way of reallocating resources, but later tried to clarify her remarks in an interview with the Free Press. Whitmer made the comments in a live Instagram interview on "The Root" with senior reporter Terrell Jermaine Starr. (Egan, 6/9)
