WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th June, 2020) Developing a national database and working closely with communities can help reduce police brutality in the United States, current and former US law enforcement officers told Sputnik.
On Tuesday, amid nationwide protests over the police-related killing of two black men, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to enhance law enforcement training, ban chokeholds and establish a national database to share information on issues such as excessive use of force.
"A national registry is really key because these people jump around from job-to-job. [This will] help break up the culture of racism," said Ron Hampton, a 21-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC. "Most of what they're offering as reforms isn't new. But if we get these reforms through it would be good ... I'm down with the reimagining of policing. I've known for a long time - from the time I served to now - that we need change."
Nationwide protests erupted on May 25 when a black man died in Minnesota after a white officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. The situation was exacerbated over the weekend after a police shooting in Atlanta left another African American man dead.
The executive order will also provide Federal funding to support police officers in handling individuals with mental health and substance abuse problems. In addition, the federal government is seeking to adopt less lethal weapons for US police to help prevent deadly interactions with the public, according to the order.
Captain Sonia Wiggins-Pruitt has for years been an advocate of developing a national database to track officers charged with misconduct to ensure that these officers won't be rehired. Pruitt, national chairwoman of the National Black Police Association (NPBA), said police officers must be held accountable for their behavior and actions, and law enforcement as a whole must step up and be responsive to the African-American communities they purport to serve.
"We're certainly not a monolith but we're in alignment that some things need to happen," she told Sputnik, referring to members of her organization. "Representative [Ilhan] Omar is looking at how money is spent on the militarization of police departments. Everyone supports change from the inside. It's a heavy lift but we all have to do it."
Pruitt said the public certainly has a right to scrutinize what police officers do and question how their hard-earned tax Dollars are spent.
"I don't have a problem with the public seeking to monitor what we do. It's appropriate and proper that the people we exist for know what we're doing. They know what they expect. It's like going to a doctor. You have to ask questions. When you do, they can tell you what you need to know," she said.
