What changed with the police after one year of Floyd's death?
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(CNN) -
The Justice Department's announcement Tuesday that federal law enforcement officers will be prohibited from wearing neck restraints during arrests and using unannounced tickets during warrant enforcement. judicial, except in exceptional cases, is part of an ongoing focus on police accountability at the local, state and federal levels.
This is an important policy that addresses two aspects of police accountability for officers under federal jurisdiction, but state and local governments have already made these changes in the last two years.
In recent years, the use of neck restraints and unannounced arrest warrants have led to high-level deaths during arrests, prompting calls for both techniques to be banned.
In the year and four months after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, state and local governments across the country stepped up efforts to hold officers accountable for their misconduct and prevent incidents of brutality. police against citizens.
Police contracts come under increased scrutiny, and state legislatures pushed for the removal of qualified immunity and introduced policy changes on arrest warrants and strangulations.
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Former Minneapolis Cops Accused of Violating George Floyd's Civil Rights Plead "Not Guilty"
Changes in the states about police policies
In cities like Aurora, Colorado, the death of Elijah McClain two years ago led to new state laws on chokeholds and the use of the powerful sedative ketamine to prevent unnecessary deaths and increase law enforcement accountability.
State Attorney General Phil Weiser (a special counsel appointed by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis last year) released the findings of a year-long investigation into the Aurora Police Department on Wednesday.
This investigation found that the agency "has a racially biased pattern and practice of police, the use of excessive force, and failure to record required information when interacting with the community," the report says.
Weiser will seek a federal consent decree that will require "specific changes and ongoing independent oversight," his office announced.
Since May 2020, 47 states and the city of Washington have enacted 390 new laws addressing police policy; and the 50 states and the city of Washington have collectively introduced 3,120 laws during that period, but not all were enacted, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). These laws refer to the adequate containment of suspects, how to comply with court orders, the duty of agents to intervene, and the requirements of body cameras.
"The Floyd case brought to light many critically important issues regarding police accountability," said Charles Ramsey, former chief of police for the city of Washington and Philadelphia, and a CNN law enforcement analyst.
"The police have to have a higher level, there has to be strict accountability."
"We have to rid our ranks of individuals who just don't belong there."
Seven states, including Colorado, Massachusetts and Connecticut, have already enacted changes to qualified immunity, a controversial federal doctrine that established case law and can protect officials and other government employees from liability.
A total of 24 states restricted or prohibited the use of choke braces and other forms of neck restraint between May 2020 and May 2021, and 11 states made changes to arrest warrants without notice in that period, including Virginia. , Illinois and Massachusetts, according to the NCSL.
In Louisville, Kentucky, where police killed 28-year-old Breonna Taylor in a failed drug bust, the mayor and the city's police union last week released interim contract agreements that include testing drug screening tests for officers involved in critical incidents and the largest single-year salary increase in the department's history.
Experts say contracts between police unions and their members have come under increased scrutiny since Floyd's assassination, as advocates of the reform argue that contract protections strain police-community relations, and serve as obstacles to responsibility and discipline.
"The negative consequence of what we are seeing now is the tendency of people to paint all the policemen with the same brush," Ramsey said.
"We allow the few to define the many and that's a consequence, but in the long run it's going to benefit the profession because we have to rid our ranks of individuals who just don't belong there."
This is how the life of this medical consultant changed after Floyd's death 4:45
Using arrest warrants without warning carries risks
Police reform has focused on several key issues, such as increased attention being paid to the obligation of officers to intervene when they see their colleagues engaging in misconduct or the use of excessive force;
the increase in the number of officers equipped with body cameras;
restrictions on arrest warrants without prior notice;
and the prohibition of neck restraints by the departments.
This week's Justice Department policy change, which applies to federal agents and local and state officials serving on task forces, prohibits both choke braces and "carotid restraints," except where in which officers are authorized to use deadly force.
The Department acknowledged that "the use of certain physical restraint techniques - specifically, choke braces and carotid restraints - by some law enforcement agencies to incapacitate a resisting suspect has too often resulted in a tragedy".
At the federal level, the George Floyd Police Justice Act includes changes to the doctrine of qualified immunity and limits on arrest warrants, strangulation braces, and carotid restraints, but bipartisan negotiations have largely stalled this summer with poor progress due to several key friction points.
What is qualified immunity?
Qualified immunity, which can only be abolished nationally by the Supreme Court or Congress, effectively protects state and local officials, including police officers, from personal liability unless they are found to have violated it. that the Court defines as "clearly established statutory or constitutional rights" of an individual. This doctrine can only be used in civil cases, not criminal ones, and allows victims to sue officials for damages only in those circumstances.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott, one of the top negotiators in the talks to reach an agreement on the bill, told reporters this week that it is not qualified immunity that is delaying discussions at this time, but "the definitions about the things we want to see. "
Thor Eells, director of the National Association of Tactical Agents, has argued against the use of warrants without warning, except in rare cases, because they are fraught with risk.
He said three of the four potential outcomes of the high-risk warrant service inside someone's home - surrender, an officer who gets shot, an officer who shoots someone, or a suspect who shoots himself - they are negative, and officers should try to avoid serving arrest warrants in that way.
That could mean using surveillance equipment to make sure a home is empty during the process and stopping someone during a traffic stop or when they are away from home, he said.
Qualified immunity in the Floyd 1:34 case
A blanket ban on these arrests is not the answer either.
But a blanket ban on unannounced arrest warrants is also not helpful, he said, because there are times when it is appropriate.
"There are many considerations that are taken into account in the service of arrest warrants, to mitigate the risks," he added.
"Having an absolute ban on a tool doesn't necessarily make things safer."
Between May 2020 and May 2021, 11 states made warrant changes, including Massachusetts, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland and Virginia.
Like much of the laws and policies that govern the way the police do their jobs, there is no single national standard for the training, education and approach of the warrant service.
Eell's association has a standard, but it is not binding, and each of the thousands of police departments across the country is free to develop and follow its own standards based on what state law allows.
Better practices
In general, however, best practices would dictate that officers find some way to avoid executing arrest warrants without prior notice, even if a judge approves a request to be executed that way.
Officers are also taught to prioritize, in order: hostages, uninvolved citizens, other security forces, and then the suspect.
Drugs, property or other evidence are the last priority in the warrant service, he said.
The goal is to minimize the risk of any type of violence.
Eells noted that the night of Taylor's raid there were so many errors that he described the review as a "where to start" situation.
But a blanket ban on unannounced arrest warrants - either because of department policy, because of a change in state law, or because district attorneys don't approve those requests before they get to the judges - does not make the warrants communities are safer.
Following the death of Breonna Taylor, cities across the country rethought the policy of warrants without warning.
Police unions are seen as an obstacle
Police unions have become "too powerful" over the years, making it difficult to hold officers accountable for their misconduct and the removal of troublesome officers, Ramsey said.
Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Law Enforcement Organizations, a coalition of law enforcement unions, said unions' contracts with the city or agency they serve have come under "great scrutiny" since Floyd's death in May 2020.
"Legislation pending or proposed in Congress would restrict contracts that the bill's sponsors believe in any way interfere with civil rights investigations," Johnson said.
"From our point of view, contracts do not do such a thing. In fact, they cannot do such a thing, legally."
Johnson said he is not surprised by the increased pay for officers in Louisville, adding that the "constant attacks on police officers - physical, political, social, verbal, and the consequent loss of officers through attrition and resignation / retirement have led to this. "
Tentative agreements
Tentative contractual arrangements between the Louisville Metropolitan Government and the Fraternal Order of Police include increases of 9% for sworn LMPD personnel in fiscal 2022 and 3% increases for sworn LMPD personnel in fiscal 2023, according to an announcement by both parties. It represents the "largest one-year salary increase in LMPD history for LMPD sworn personnel," the document says.
The tentative contract also requires mandatory critical incident drug and alcohol testing for officers and refusal to comply could result in termination of the contract, according to the document.
As part of the collective bargaining process, union members will vote on the agreements and, once approved, will be reviewed by the City Council and sent to the public for comment.
Contract negotiations have been going on since Taylor was assassinated.
Taylor's murder prompted cities across the country to ban or reduce the break-in raids that are often used to enforce narcotics search warrants.
There are positive changes, but there are many pending
Public criticism of the Louisville contract led to some positive changes, but they fall short compared to other cities such as Indianapolis, Cincinnati and New York City, which give officials more powers to discipline and fire officers accused of misconduct, according to Ariana Levinson, an employment law professor at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law who has been studying LMPD contracts.
Levinson said favorable contract changes include not allowing officers to review body camera recordings before being interviewed by investigators, removing the provision that allows non-criminal claims pending investigation to be destroyed after 90 days, and allowing officers to be monitored if they are under investigation for misconduct.
But several problematic provisions were not substantially changed, Levinson said, including a ban on firings and a requirement for egregious behavior for an officer to be suspended without pay.
"It's great that we've gotten three changes, but if we get three changes every two to five years, it's going to take a decade to make a significant change," Levinson said.
"People in the communities are having to deal with this police misconduct and it is not acceptable. It shouldn't take a decade of gradual change to fix it."
2,600 Latinos have been killed in police actions since 2014 4:40
The passage of Colorado bills is "monumental"
Elijah McClain's death two years ago led to new state laws.
Last week, three Aurora, Colorado police officers and two paramedics were charged with manslaughter and criminal negligence manslaughter in a 32-count indictment in the death of McClain, a 23-year-old black man. years when the police stopped when he was coming home from a store, they applied a carotid restraint and injected him with ketamine.
Mari Newman, a lawyer for McClain's family, told CNN that the indictment against the officers would not have come without the national attention that Floyd's death prompted.
"These allegations here in Colorado serve not only as a reminder to law enforcement officials here, but across the country, that they are not above the law," Newman said.
On August 24, 2019, Aurora officers responded to a call about a person wearing a ski mask and confronted McClain, who was walking home from a convenience store, according to an independent investigative report.
The officers tried to physically restrain him, leading to a scuffle.
McClain was placed in a carotid control hold twice and briefly lost consciousness, the indictment says.
The two Aurora Firefighters paramedics later arrived at the scene and diagnosed McClain with "agitated delirium" without checking his vital signs, talking to him, or touching him, the indictment says.
Paramedics injected McClain with a dose of ketamine based on an estimate that he weighed 200 pounds, when he weighed 143 pounds, the documents say.
The projects that were approved after the murder of McClain
Before the officers and paramedics were indicted, state lawmakers passed three bills aimed at increasing accountability and preventing a repeat of the police encounter that led to McClain's death.
Under Bill 1251, which Governor Polis signed into law this year, an emergency medical service provider can only administer ketamine if they first weigh the individual, are trained in advanced airway support, and have equipment to monitor their Vital signs.
Bill 1250 requires law enforcement agencies to develop protocols for conducting any investigation that involves "the firing of a firearm" resulting in injury or death.
Under Senate Bill 217, police are prohibited from using choke keys and an officer is required to intervene when another officer is using "illegal physical force."
Additionally, officers cannot use deadly force to arrest a person who is "suspected only of a minor or non-violent crime" and if the person poses an "immediate threat" to the officer or the public, the law says.
"What we passed in Colorado is monumental," said Rep. Leslie Herod, a Denver Democrat, who said she spearheaded all three bills with the help of McClain's mother, Sheneen McClain.
"If we hadn't passed those bills, we still wouldn't have a path to justice for Elijah, because the case was initially dropped multiple times. It really took that public outcry and the policy change to get to where we are today."
Work to do
Herod told CNN that district attorneys have filed seven charges against five officers since Senate Bill 217 was passed, due to various liability provisions, such as failure to intervene and report incidents of use of the strength.
Attorney General Weiser's investigation of the Aurora Police Department found "statistically significant racial disparities - especially with regard to black individuals - in nearly every major type of police contact with the community, from interactions to arrests and the use of force, "according to the report.
Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson responded to the investigation's findings, saying the department remains "committed to cooperating and seeking solutions that keep the best interests of our community and public servants first. ".
Wilson said the department began implementing changes in the last 21 months while the investigation was ongoing, which he said improved surveillance, de-escalation training, community outreach and engagement.
State Rep. Herod told CNN that "there is still work to be done, because law enforcement has been able to hide behind law enforcement for a long time, for generations, but it is in the fabric of our penal code. It is in the fabric. of our statutes ".
CNN's Peter Nickeas and Jenn Selva contributed to this article.
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