Trump signs executive order on police reform
President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that will create a system for tracking police misconduct, ban most chokeholds, incentivize officer training and send social workers on some nonviolent police calls as Americans across the nation call for stringent police reforms.
“Thank you all for being here as we take historic action to deliver a future of safety and security for Americans of every race, religion, color, and creed,” Trump said in the Rose Garden after meeting with the families of people killed in confrontations with police or vigilantes, including Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot by a former law enforcement official in Georgia.
Before the announcement, Trump aides said, he met in the White House with the families of Antwon Rose, Jemel Roberson, Michael Dean, Darius Tarver and Cameron Lamb, black men killed by police, and Everett Palmer, who died in jail.
Rose’s mother later denied that she or her family were at the meeting.
“I want you to know that all Americans mourned by your side, your loved ones will not have died in vain. We are one nation. We grieve together, and we heal together,” the president continued.
“I can never imagine your pain or the depth of your anguish but I can promise to fight for justice for all of our people and I gave a commitment to all of those families today with Sen. Tim Scott and Attorney General Bill Barr. We are going to pursue what we said we will be pursuing it and we will be pursuing it strongly.”
The order, he added, includes “standards [that] will be as high and as strong as there is on Earth.”
The president also praised police officers and slammed the nationwide movement to cut back on resources for law enforcement — asserting that “Americans want law and order,” a message he has repeatedly tweeted in recent days after unrest broke out in many US cities over the killings of George Floyd and other African-Americans.
“We have to give them great respect for what they do,” he said, noting that 89 cops had been killed in the line of duty last year, and adding that the federal government was “ready, willing and able to help” thwart unrest in US cities.
“Americans want law and order. They demand law and order. They may not say it, they may not be talking about it, but that’s what they want. Some of them don’t know that is what they want but that is what they want,” the commander-in-chief said, promising “safe, beautiful, elegant justice and liberty for all.”
The president also said “chokeholds would be banned, unless an officer’s life is at risk.”
He also ripped President Barack Obama and former veep Joe Biden for not enacting reforms — even though Obama signed an executive order creating the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing in response to the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer.
“President Obama and Vice President Biden never even tried to fix this during their eight-year period. The reason they didn’t try is because they had no idea how to do it,” he said, while also reiterating low black unemployment numbers, support for historically black colleges and school choice, which he called “the civil rights of all time in this country.”
Trump had said Monday that the order would be a “very comprehensive” response to unrest over the killing of Floyd by Minnesota police.
Many details would be implemented by the Justice Department, and Trump will also call on Congress to pass additional legislation, officials said.
Incentives for training officers would require that police departments meet certification standards to get federal funds.
Those certifications would teach de-escalation techniques and ban chokeholds except in situations where deadly force is allowed.
The reform to send social workers with police on some missions would specifically be geared toward homeless people and those with mental health and addiction issues.
Trump said Monday that the order “is about law and order, but it’s about justice also and it’s about safety.”
“I think you’re going to see some things that a lot of people thought would not happen — you wouldn’t be able to get them done, but we’ll get them done,” Trump told reporters in the White House Cabinet Room.
“We can get it done and will get it done,” Trump continued.
“And certainly we can add on to what we do by the work that’s being done in the House and the Senate if we think it’s appropriate. Maybe they can get something passed and maybe they can’t.”
Last week, Trump said he was preparing an executive order that would accomplish “the opposite” of defunding police by providing officers better training, national standards and more resources.
Trump spoke Monday after additional anti-police brutality protests following the Atlanta shooting death of Rayshard Brooks during a struggle with officers at a drunk-driving stop.
“I thought it was a terrible situation, I studied it closely,” Trump said of Brooks’ death. “To me it was very disturbing.”
The Rose Garden announcement came as Senate Republicans were preparing their own package of policing changes after Democrats last week proposed a system to track problematic officers that would also limit the safeguards in place keeping officers from facing legal or civil action in court.
The Democratic bill would forbid use of chokeholds, ban police from conducting no-knock raids when serving drug warrants, curtail the transfer of surplus military equipment to local and state police agencies and lower the threshold to federally prosecute officers if they exhibit a “reckless disregard” for someone’s life.
It remained unclear if the two parties could reach an agreement.
With Post wires