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US: Police reform plan foiled after Floyd assassination

After months of negotiations, US senators failed to agree on the plan reform of police, an initiative that had begun after the death of the African-American George Floyd by a white police officer.

This development is a severe blow to President Joe Biden.

Despite months of talks, “we could not agree on the strategySaid Democratic Sen. Corey Booker, announcing to the press the end of negotiations with his Republican counterparts. The Democratic president, who was elected with the support of a large number of African-American voters and had made this reform a priority, blamed the failure on the GOP. He described as “sad” the way Republican senators rejected “moderate reforms” backed by “even former President Donald Trump”, and “refused to act on key points that even those who were willing to talk” the law enforcement forces “in a statement.

The Republicans returned the ball to him. “After months of progress, I’m very disappointed that Democrats have wasted this opportunity to make our neighborhoods safer and improve relations between law enforcement and communities of color,” said Sen. Tim Scott.

Beyond the counter-accusations, bitterness prevailed among the supporters of the reforms. “We express our deep disappointment at the inability of Senate leaders to find a sensible solution to federal police reform,” said Ben Crump, who has represented the Floyd family and several other victims of police brutality.

“After an unprecedented year (…), the police unions and the politicians who support them withthey chose to go to the wrong side of the story“, Said with bitterness Derrick Johnson, president of the civil rights organization NAACP.

What does the police reform plan include?

His murder George Floyd, who was suffocated by a white police officer on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, sparked massive US-wide mobilizations against racism and police brutality.

Reacting, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill in March reform, which was mainly intended to put an end to the broad judicial immunity of police officers.

The text also provided to prohibit handles and other methods of suffocation, to limit the transfer of military equipment to the police, to create national police database abandoned due to abuse, etc.

But Democrats needed to persuade about a dozen Republicans to get the text through the Senate barrier.

In an effort to avoid appearing as the undertakers of a reform that the African-American minority was eager for, Republicans trusted the only black senator they have elected to the body, Tim Scott, to negotiate for a consensus text.

The president Biden He repeatedly urged parliamentarians to show “courage” for the reform to move forward. Despite the failure of the effort, he said in a statement that he hoped “one day he will sign an ambitious and comprehensive police reform that will honor the name and memory of George Floyd”; waiting, “the White House will continue its consultations” and will consider what it can do with decrees.

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