Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP / Getty Images
President Joe Biden signed on Wednesday an executive order aimed at reforming federal police practices and establishing a national database of police misconduct on Wednesday, two years to the day George Floyd was killed by police officers in Minneapolis.
“This executive order is going to generate the most significant police reform in decades. It is applied directly, according to the law, to only 100,000 federal law enforcement officers, all federal law enforcement officers. And through the federal incentives and best practices attributed to it, we expect the order to have a significant impact on state and local law enforcement agencies as well,” Biden said.
During the signing of the police reform executive order, relatives of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who was shot dead by police during a raid on her home in March, were present at the White House. 2020.
The executive order comes after the Senate rejected the George Floyd Police Justice Act, a reform proposal Police of the Democratic Party that did not get the support of the Republican legislators.
The new regulation establishes a new minimum standard for the use of force, and prohibits officers from using chokeholds to arrest suspects unless authorized authorized the use of lethal force.
It also orders the creation of a database of agents who have received credible complaints of misconduct, managed by the Department of Justice.
The executive order only applies to federal agencies such as the FBI or the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), since the White House has no direct authority over local or state security forces -George Floyd died in the custody of the local Minneapolis Police-.
Vice President Kamala Harris has recognized that the executive order is not a substitute for legislative action, and requested to the Senate to approve the George Floyd Police Justice Act.
For his part, Biden has recalled the Black Lives Matter protests matter) who two years ago called for measures against racism and police violence, and promised to continue working to achieve a reform of the security forces protected by law. “This is a start”, underlined the president.
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