Policing Protests Spurred Reforms in 23 States: Report

Scene from Los Angeles protests, May-June 2020. Courtesy National Police Foundation

At least 23 states have made policy changes regarding law enforcement since May 2020, indicating a prioritization of police accountability in the past year, according to Stateline.

Since May 2020, more than 3,000 bills have been introduced concerning law enforcement accountability and conduct, said the report by Stateline, an initiative of Pew Charitable Trusts.

Proposed reforms have included a wide range of accountability, from prohibiting or limiting the use of force or deadly force, to altering how non-lethal weaponry is used to improving training and certification processes for officers.

As the public eye focused more intensely on law enforcement – specifically police accountability – last summer, many advocates wondered how much policy action would be affected. But over a year after the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, several states have pushed for police reform that covered an array of public concerns on police misconduct.

At least 19 states have enacted a policy that reforms law enforcement’s use of neck restraints, some eliminating the use of them altogether.

Additionally, at least 15 states have enacted policies that require police intervention when a co-worker acts against police code of conduct, and at least 10 states have enacted legislation regarding the use of body cameras.

Such legislation could be vital to the future of policing in the United States.

According to a study done by the Brennan Center for Justice, Derek Chauvin had 22 misconduct complaints, and was watched by three officers in the killing of George Floyd. With policies that enforce police intervention instead of upholding the “blue wall of silence,” future tragedies could be prevented.

Among the bills passed in states across the country, many states and jurisdictions proposed legislation that failed to pass through the state legislature.

According to the Pew article, the viability of policing policy can greatly depend on the state legislature’s party affiliation. States with democratic-led legislatures were much more likely to pass reform measures that were comprehensive than republican-led states.

Change was even proposed at the federal level, most notably with the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act which was passed in the House of Representatives in March, however communities across the country worry that reforms are too extreme, especially those calling to “defund the police” or reallocate funds to different social services that could better handle some of the tasks that overload an officer’s responsibilities.

Some advocates also worry that too much time will pass with too little policy action, noting it’s been over a year since so many of the protests regarding law enforcement took place.

“The new laws following George Floyd’s death may hold some promise, but alone, they are unlikely to ensure the fundamental change that so many communities are clamoring for,” said the Brennan Center.

Another concern is standardizing the use of databases to track misconduct complaints or allegations. Enforcing the use of such databases could help prevent officers with a history of violence against civilians or prior cases of misconduct from getting a job in law enforcement with a different agency.

Even as policy is passed on the state level, research shows that in order for police conduct to have a real impact, the local government and community must work with their law enforcement to enact change and prioritize reform.

“It remains an open question whether the latest wave of state-level reforms will truly alter the landscape of arbitrary, discriminatory, and even deadly policing,” said the Brennan Center.

“After all, it was only seven years ago that states enacted a slew of policing reforms following the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. And yet the needless death continues.”

Read more: Do Americans Want More Police or Less?

Emily Riley is a TCR Justice Reporting intern.