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Biden unveiled new order making police misconduct records public on 2nd anniversary of George Floyd's death

May 26, 2022, 04:39 IST
Business Insider
Gianna Floyd, daughter of George Floyd, stands for a photo with US Vice President Kamala Harris, Reverend Al Sharpton, Tamika Palmer, US attorney Ben Crump, and members of Congress during a signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 25, 2022.IM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
  • Biden signed an executive order Wednesday on the anniversary of George Floyd's murder.
  • The order aims to increase police accountability and transparency.
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On the 2nd anniversary of George Floyd's murder, President Joe Biden signed a wide-scoping executive order earmarked on police accountability.

"Police cannot fulfill their role to keep communities safe without public trust and confidence in law enforcement and the criminal justice system," the White House said in a press release Wednesday. "To heal as a nation, we must acknowledge that fatal encounters with law enforcement have disproportionately involved Black and Brown people."

The order would require all federal agencies to amend their use-of-force policies and to account for all officers fired for misconduct in a new national registry.

Police misconduct has been difficult or impossible for the public to access for years, making it difficult to demand accountability from officers, according to The Associated Press.

The administration also announced that federal grant funding will be used to goad local agencies to limit the use of chokehold force and plainclothes officers. In addition, the order establishes more restrictions on the transfer of military equipment that "belongs on a battlefield, not on our streets."

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"The executive order is the product of an incredibly robust engagement process and reflects the input of a large coalition. For the past several months we have been at work on this," a White House official told reporters, according to The Hill.

A signing ceremony — which Floyd's family, Breonna Taylor's family, law enforcement officials, and justice activists attended — occurred at 4 p.m. Eastern Time.

"I promised the Floyd family among others: George's name is not just gonna be a hashtag," Biden said at the ceremony.

"It's a measure of what we can do together to heal the very soul of this nation — to address profound fear, and trauma, exhaustion — that particularly black Americans have experienced for generations and to channel that private pain and public outrage into a rare mark of progress for years to come," he added.

Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, when former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for over nine minutes. The video of his death, in which Floyd repeatedly said he couldn't breathe, sparked national uproar with mounting protests calling for police reform.

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"Much work remains to be done, as this Executive Order only touches upon one element of the criminal justice system – policing," the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Fraternal Order of Police, both of which were present during negotiations with the administration on the order, said in a joint statement sent to Insider.

"It represents, however, a good faith effort by all involved to reach accord without compromising any core values or issues. A broader approach to overall systemic issues needs to be a priority of all elected officials and, just as our organizations have done from the start, stand ready to work together to make the entirety of our criminal justice system fairer and more equitable for all," the statement added.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson said he believes the order is just a piece to a larger solution.

"We know full well that an executive order cannot address America's policing crisis the same way Congress has the ability to, but we've got to do everything we can," Johnson said in a statement, according to The New York Times.

The White House and the NAACP did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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