MARQUETTE — Legislation to reform police agencies, improve training and boost accountability between law enforcement and communities is currently being discussed on the Senate floor.
U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Michigan, hosted a Zoom video call with Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon and Rev. Dr. Steve Bland Jr. Wednesday to discuss proposed legislation that will address the critical issues facing the nation’s criminal justice system. Peters remarked his support for several Senate bills and is working to advance his bipartisan National Criminal Justice Commission Act, which would “create a 14-member, bipartisan National Criminal Justice Commission charged with completing an 18-month, comprehensive review of the national criminal justice system, including federal, state, local and tribal criminal justice systems, and issuing recommendations for changes in oversight, policies, practices and laws to reduce crime, increase public safety and promote confidence in the criminal justice system,” according to a press release.
The timeline to when these bills could see implementation is difficult to pinpoint at the moment, Peters said, noting that there are many ideas concerning these issues that circulating Washington, D.C., at the moment. But it’s important that leaders continue pushing legislation that will bridge a connection between law enforcement and communities.
“Certainly I think we’ve all been moved by the dramatic murder of George Floyd and certainly I know that image of the police officer with the knee on his neck and taking the life from him is something that is engrained in mind and will always be there as I know it will be in so many Americans,” Peters said. “And as a result of that, we’ve certainly seen an outpour of emotion and peaceful demonstrations all across this country. And it certainly highlights (the effort) to take action here in Washington.”
Peters said this legislation he is co-sponsoring would ban the use of chokeholds, improve police officer training and independent accountability, create a Science Advisory Board within the Department of Justice and require federal law enforcement officers to clearly identify themselves. The bills being introduced would also enhance the ability for police departments to engage in community policing, or “a forward leaning approach to providing protection and services to the community,” he said, explaining that in order to accomplish this, it’s vital to have more police officer recruitment from each individual community who brings a perspective to the force that is “invaluable.”
However, recruiting officers from those individual communities is difficult, as Napoleon pointed out that he still has 200 vacancies in his agency that currently need to be filled. With this legislation, police agencies will require residency in the community to which they are patrolling and this is an important aspect, Napoleon said, adding that “community policing” used to be a core concept when he first joined the force back in 1975 in Detroit.
“One thing that I am very, very adamant about (is) I believe communities should be allowed to require that people who police their community, live in that community. When I was hired in Detroit, residency was a requirement and I had to live in the neighborhood,” Napoleon said. “… I think that it’s critical to having trust of the community to know that there are police officers are not apart from the community, (but) they’re a part of the community.”
The issues facing the nation during this day in age come down to “common-sense solutions,” Bland said.
As someone who grew up on the south side of Chicago, Bland said law enforcement used to be a part of the community — they shopped at the same grocery store, went to the same church — and the issue of residency is important to address, he said.
“Rules without relationship equals rebellious behavior,” Bland said, and reforming the criminal justice system is essential to producing change. “The protests that we’re dealing with now is not enough. Protests without policy change equals normalcy. We’re tired of the normalcy, we need to see the change and we need to bring it back to the community. … And the question is, ‘How do we incentivize the changes that we want to have made?’ And I think this legislation goes a long way to showing us how we do that.”
Along with improving the lack of trust between communities and police officers, Peters said these bills will help police departments recruit officers by providing financial assistance to support police academy training and it will pay for any higher education criminal justice-related degree. With that bill, there will be two stipulations including the officer must agree to work for a police or law enforcement organization within 5 miles of where they live and spend four years within that department, Peters said.
More discussions concerning these bills will continue next week.