Trump signed a police reform order: what's in the document

Due to the fact that protesters across the country insist on combating police brutality and racism, President Donald Trump signed a decree on June 16 aimed at tracking down illegal actions by law enforcement officials and creating incentives for departments to improve performance, writes CNBC.

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The president, in a speech in the White House Rose Garden, praised the police and took time to attack his political opponents. Trump said that "law and order must be restored across the country, and your federal government is ready, willing and able to help."

Trump's decision, which insisted on “law and order” on the part of state leaders, was the result of lawmakers on both sides proposing reform of law enforcement after George Floyd's death during police custody.

Trump praised law enforcement officials, saying, "This is the least we can do, because they deserve it, they should receive our thanks, and we must give them great respect for what they do."

“In many cases, local law enforcement agencies are underfunded, understaffed and undersupported,” he added.

Trump said that shortly before the press conference, he met with several families of people who died in a conflict with the police.

“Your loved ones did not die in vain,” the president said. “We are one nation, we mourn together and we heal together.”

The Trump administration’s order rejects calls to “cut police funding,” which received support from a nationwide protest movement.

“I strongly oppose sweeping and dangerous efforts to defund, defund and dismantle our police forces,” Trump said in the Rose Garden. “Americans know the truth: without police there is chaos, without law there is anarchy, and without security there is disaster.”

But he added: "Although we are all from different places and different walks of life, we are united by the desire to ensure peace, dignity and equality for all Americans."

Trump said before signing the order that he would prohibit the use of asphyxiating police grabs "unless the officer’s life is at risk." But the text of the order is less specific: certification standards, as it says, require the state and local police services to prohibit the use of asphyxiating devices "unless the use of lethal force is permitted by law."

On the subject: Know Your Rights: How To Behave With US Police

In general, the order is aimed at encouraging the police departments to update their standards in the field of training and certification, awarding them the opportunity to receive a federal grant.

It also requires the Attorney General to create a database to track individual police officers for indicators such as complaints of excessive use of force. The order states that this information will be transferred between departments and will be "regularly and periodically" published.

The order will also encourage departments to attract skilled professionals, such as social workers, to respond to calls for some non-violent problems, including mental health problems, drug abuse and homelessness.

What else is in the document:

• the Attorney General is authorized to allocate money to state and local law enforcement agencies that request authority from a certified independent body that evaluates their policies and practices;
• The reports will review agency practices, including methods of using force and de-escalation, as well as efforts to manage performance and engage the community;
• Credentialing authorities must certify that "the agency's use of force policy prohibits the use of chokeholds—a physical maneuver that limits a person's ability to breathe and is used to incapacitate the person—except in situations where the use of deadly force is authorized by law";
• the Attorney General must create a database for law enforcement that documents “cases of excessive use of force related to enforcement issues, taking into account applicable rights to privacy and due process of law”;
• the database will also track dismissals of officers, dismissals, criminal convictions for conduct in the line of duty and civil sentences against officials for “improper use of force”;
• the attorney general and secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services will find ways to train employees on “meetings with people suffering from mental health, homelessness and drug abuse”, and will also advise agencies on the development of “joint response programs” in which non-specialists police officers appear in certain situations next to the police;
• within 90 days, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services will send a summary report to the president on community-based support models for mental health, homelessness and drug abuse;
• administration officials should submit proposals to Congress that include “recommendations for improving current grant programs to improve law enforcement and public engagement.”

The administration’s goal is “to bring the police closer to the community,” a senior administration official said during a press conference in the evening of June 15, describing an executive order.

“We are not looking to defund the police; we are committed to investing more and incentivizing best practices,” he added.

According to senior officials, the administration worked with numerous police groups, religious leaders, and family organizations to create the document.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer criticized Trump and his order after the signing ceremony.

“While the President has finally acknowledged the need for police reform, one modest executive order cannot make up for his years of inflammatory rhetoric and policies designed to undo the progress made in previous years,” Schumer said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, this executive order will not bring the comprehensive, meaningful change and accountability in our nation’s police departments that Americans are demanding,” Schumer said.

On the subject: How to behave if a policeman stops you in the USA: advice from a Russian-speaking immigrant

The president did not make an official appeal about the protests or widespread police misconduct and structural racism claimed by activists. However, on social media, he took a belligerent stance against the riots and robberies that occurred during some protests after Floyd's death, putting pressure on governors and mayors to call the National Guard to suppress the riots.

Floyd, an unarmed African American, died after a white officer in Minneapolis kneeled on his neck for more than 8 minutes. Floyd was suspected of using a fake $ 20 bill. The confrontation was recorded on video.

Trump's popularity has fallen, according to polls, amid criticism of his reaction to the demonstrations and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He will be re-elected in November, with rival candidate candidate Democratic Joe Biden, who has expanded his leadership over Trump in recent national polls.

On June 15, Trump said the police killing of another African-American man, Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta, “was a terrible situation.”

On June 16, Trump remembered Biden and former President Barack Obama over their records on police reform. They “never even tried to fix it,” Trump said, “because they didn’t know how to do it.”

The Obama administration's task force has issued dozens of recommendations to improve police performance after Michael Brown’s death in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri.

Legislators of both parties are currently working on their own proposals for police reform. Democrats recently unveiled a bill that would change the rules of “qualified immunity” for police officers, simplifying the process of redressing damage to victims of rights violations.

The White House said ending qualified immunity is a "doomed exercise." A senior administration official told reporters that such an idea would not pass Congress.

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