'Squad' Dems may unravel police-reform deal in push to end qualified immunity

The demands -- which stop short of a threat to vote against any bill that doesn't roll back qualified immunity but come close to that line -- could doom legislation that Republicans and Democrats have been negotiating for weeks. 

The letter is signed by Reps. Cori Bush, D-Mo.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J.; Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.; and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. 

Qualified immunity is a protection that shields government officials of all stripes from being personally sued for violating somebody's rights in the course of reasonably doing their jobs unless the breached rights are "clearly established in the law." In practice, this often means that police officers who go well beyond their authority in handling an incident cannot be held civilly liable for their actions. 

"We are concerned by recent discussions that the provision ending qualified immunity for local, state, and federal law enforcement may be removed in order to strike a bipartisan deal in the Senate," the letter said. "Given that police violence, as a weapon of structural racism, continues to have devastating and deadly consequences for Black and brown lives across our country, we strongly urge you to not only maintain but strengthen the provision eliminating qualified immunity as negotiations in the Senate continue."

More...

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito Backs Sen. Scott’s Police Reform Proposal

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) weighed in on the police reform debate on Capitol Hill. In an interview Sunday, Moore Capito said she supports Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.)’s efforts to bring forward a balanced bill.

Scott recently said lawmakers are focusing on a handful of issues, like ending qualified immunity, a federal ban on chokeholds, and no-knock warrants. Moore Capito said Scott has been across the aisle, and she believes “the time is now,” as there is a real desire to get legislation on the matter done and done right.

She added, qualified immunity is a hot-button issue right now.

“I think the way that Senator Scott has formulated some revisions to qualified immunity is on the table right now,” Moore Capito said. “I know he is in active negotiations on this piece.”

More...

 

New bill would end qualified immunity for police officers in Illinois

A bill that would put an end to qualified immunity for police officers is making its way through the Illinois House.

The Bad Apples in Law Enforcement Accountability Act of 2021 would allow for civil litigation against law enforcement officers if they ‘deprive any individual rights guaranteed under the Illinois Constitution.’

Officers who ‘fail to intervene’ could also be held accountable.

Governor Pritzker signed a police reform bill in February that included ending cash bail. The end to qualified immunity was included in an early version of Pritzker’s Illinois police reform bill but was left out.

Several local law enforcement agencies strongly opposed the measure and a petition urging Pritzker to veto the bill garnered more than 150,000 signatures.

Those who oppose the action say the bill prohibits peace officers from fulfilling their sworn oath and duty.

More...

 

House Passes New Bill To Abolish Qualified Immunity For Police

On a largely party-line vote, the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday night approved the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (H.R. 1280), a massive overhaul of American policing that would make it much easier to sue rogue officers. Among its many provisions, the bill would eliminate “qualified immunity” for all local, state, and federal law enforcement officers. Under qualified immunity, government officials escape any legal liability for civil rights violations unless the victim can show that their rights were “clearly established” at the time.

Thanks to this loophole, federal courts have upheld qualified immunity to Fresno officers accused of stealing more than $225,000 in cash and rare coins, an Idaho SWAT team that bombarded an innocent mom’s home with tear gas grenades, and a Georgia sheriff’s deputy who accidentally shot a 10-year-old boy while aiming for the family’s dog. 

“We as a country have a choice: We can either choose police accountability, or choose qualified immunity, but we cannot choose both,” one of the act’s original cosponsors, Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY), said on the House floor. “The purpose of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is not to second guess officers who act in good faith, the objective is to hold liable officers who repeatedly abuse their power and who rarely, if ever, face consequences for their repeat abuses.”

A nearly identical version of the bill passed the House last summer but never got a floor vote in the Senate. Though the Justice in Policing Act still faces an uphill battle this session, prospects are brighter. Ending qualified immunity is backed by around two-thirds of Americans, including many prominent celebrities like Tom Brady and the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s.

Moreover, the bill has been endorsed by the Biden Administration, while some Senate Republicans have signaled they may be amenable to compromise. For instance, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) who last summer called eliminating qualified immunity a “poison pill,” on Tuesday said that he was “open to having conversations on civil qualified immunity as it relates to police departments, cities, and municipalities being held accountable for the actions of those they employ.”

More...

Maryland police reform would repeal officer due process protections

 Every Wednesday, for 395 weeks, Tawanda Jones has held a vigil to protest the death of her brother, Tyrone West, who died after a struggle with Baltimore police in 2013.

Jones’ protests used to take place on the streets of Baltimore, but since the pandemic, she has moved her activism online, where she recently waited late into the night to testify in support of an effort to create greater police accountability in Maryland.

Jones hopes the time has come to repeal the state’s Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights — police protections in state law she says have shielded authorities from responsibility, including the officers who she believes suffocated her brother.

“I call it a security blanket for them that allows them to brutalize us,” said Jones, a school teacher.

A package of police reforms in Maryland this year prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minnesota includes a proposed repeal of a law that has become common across the country. Critics say the laws have long stood as a barrier to officer discipline and accountability. Maryland first enacted it in 1974, and about 20 states have adopted similar laws setting due process procedure for investigating police misconduct, including California, Florida and Texas.

After protests in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, police reform advocates now hope the first state to enact the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights will be the first to repeal it, setting a model for other states to improve police accountability. Police union leaders, however, are concerned the changes could erode important law enforcement protections.

More...

Portland PD has 'lowest number of sworn employees' in 25-plus years

The Portland Police Bureau now has the "lowest number of sworn employees" in more than 25 years, prompting the department to reassign certain personnel as a way to decrease overtime costs, officials announced.

On Thursday, Portland police reassigned sergeants and officers from three precincts "in an effort to reduce overtime costs" –  just one day after an Oregonian/Oregon Live report detailing how Police Chief Chuck Lovell has asked city commissioners to decrease department budget cuts to just 1% so they can hire more personnel.

"Due to the fact that the bureau has its lowest number of sworn employees in over 25 years (824 sworn members), and because of enormous costs associated with events of 2020, the Bureau took this step to save money," the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) said in a Thursday press release regarding the reorganization.

More...

 

Nearly A Dozen Police Have Left City Department Amid National Wave Of Quitting Cops

 About 10 police officers have departed from a Western Massachusetts city following "defund the police" budget cuts over the summer.

And another 11 officers have put in an application for employment in other departments.
The exodus marks a problem with morale at the Northampton Police Department in the wake of calls to “defund the police,” subsequent budget cuts, and protests against law enforcement, Chief Jody Kasper told MassLive.

Cuts were announced in June when city officials were hammering out the annual budget. The police department’s proposed $6.7 million budget was reduced by 10 percent.
Since that time 7 officers have resigned and three were laid off, Kasper said.

A wave of police resignations has hit the United States in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and a call for changes in law enforcement that includes less money for traditional police budgets. The policy has been referred to as “defund the policy” and the idea is that money taken from the police budget could be used to buffer social services and allow police to focus on major crimes.

Many communities have reduced police budgets and created new policing policies in an effort to reduce police brutality and racial imbalance in how laws are enforced. However, the second part of the defund the police campaign - the added support from social services - does not appear to have materialized as quickly.

Anecdotal evidence from police departments from Seattle to Atlanta to Minneapolis to Buffalo have reported scores of police officers resigning, according to CNN and various media outlets.
In a survey of the nation’s 50 largest cities, at least 23 have seen chiefs or line officers resign, retire or take disability this year, according to City Journal.

Replacing officers has not been easy as recruiting is down as well.

More...