Joe Biden Signs Police Reform Executive Order On George Floyd’s Death Anniversary

President Joe Biden has been facing a mountain of problems. The administration took office with a horrifically mismanaged pandemic to take care of as well as an economy crushed by the weight of the virus. President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order on policing two years after an officer murdered George Floyd.

On the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, President Biden signed “the most significant police reform in decades.” The executive order creates a national database of police wrongdoing and mandates that federal law enforcement agencies use it to screen officers.

This executive order is going to deliver the most significant police reform in decades. It applies directly, under law, to only 100,000 federal law enforcement officers, all the federal law enforcement officers. And through federal incentives and best practices that are attached to it, we expect the order to have significant impact on state and local law enforcement agencies as well.

I know progress can be slow and frustrating and there’s a concern that the reckoning on race inspired two years ago is beginning to fade. But acting today, we’re showing what our dear friend, the late John Lewis, congressman, wrote in his final words after his final march for justice in July 2020 — he said, ‘Democracy is not a state. It is an act.’

Advertising

Advertising

It also prohibits federal officials from using chokeholds “unless deadly force is authorized” and limits no-knock intrusions. In 2020, a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, killed Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes. The now-former cop was convicted of murder last year.

Biden understands that progress can be slow and difficult, and there is tension that the reckoning on race that began two years ago is fading. However, enforcing this today ensures that it will never fade away. The White House fact sheet on Biden’s executive order can be read here. Check out the video below.

What do you think of this story? Let us know in the comments!