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President Donald Trump will sign an executive order today detailing his administration’s stance on police reform.
The order is expected to focus on three areas: credentialing and certifying police officers; creating a database to track officers accused of misconduct and stopping them from going from one police force to another, and sending out social workers with law enforcement on calls with persons suspected of having mental health issues.
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Speaking to reporters at a White House roundtable event on Monday, the president said the order will be “pretty comprehensive.”
“Basically, we’re going to be talking about things that we’ve been watching and seeing for the last month, and we’re going to have some solutions, some good solutions,” Trump said. He said that police departments have “mostly great people, I would say that. I would say that with certainty,” Trump said, “we have mostly great people … but, we will do better, even better.”
The executive order is part of the federal response to the wave of protests that has swept the nation following the police killing of George Floyd. The House of Representatives has also introduced a bill that would ban the use of chokeholds, and ban the use of no-knock warrants in drug cases, like the one that led to the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Republicans in the Senate are expected to introduce their own police reform proposal this week as well.
According to CNBC, White House officials told reporters that providing federal money to states to support reform is different from “defunding” police departments. Officials said that the federal government will incentivize departments to “improve their training” and retain good officers. “You’re never going to solve this problem by demonizing the police. You have to solve this problem by working with law enforcement to make progress together.”
The signing is expected to happen this afternoon. It was revealed last night that the family of Ahmaud Arbery and their attorney Lee Merritt will stand with the president at the signing of this very important order. According to journalist April Ryan, civil rights leaders are furious at what seems to be a political move on behalf of Mr. Trump.
EXCLUSIVE: #CivilRights leaders are OUTRAGED after a late night Tuesday call where they learned that Lee Merritt (@MeritLaw) & family members of #AhmaudArbery are expected to be on hand at the #WhiteHouse for a photo op during @realDonaldTrump’s #PoliceReform executive order.
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) June 16, 2020
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