Washington state has passed several new laws in an effort to address police brutality issues. Among these are:
Banning choke holds and neck restraints
Restricting the use of tear gas
Prohibiting military equipment
Bans no-knock warrants
Requires police to identify themselves as such to citizens
Bars car chases in some areas
Changes policies on the use of police dogs
Changes how investigations of police misconduct will work
Requirements to employ de-escalation tactics and use least amount of force required
Requirement that officers intervene if another officer is using excessive force and report wrongdoing
There are a few more but are more wordy and difficult to summarize, mostly about professionalism and training and such. Some of these seem to address the problems that lead to unjustified killing but others are less clear. Time will tell if this effort results in improvements. I'm not saying this is a panacea but it is good to see someone at the state level acknowledge there is a problem and attempt to correct it. One thing that seems to be missing are efforts to develop a better relationship between police officers and the general public that some cities/states have enacted. This could lead to better trust between police and the public and better tips to identify bad guys.
Banning choke holds and neck restraints
Restricting the use of tear gas
Prohibiting military equipment
Bans no-knock warrants
Requires police to identify themselves as such to citizens
Bars car chases in some areas
Changes policies on the use of police dogs
Changes how investigations of police misconduct will work
Requirements to employ de-escalation tactics and use least amount of force required
Requirement that officers intervene if another officer is using excessive force and report wrongdoing
There are a few more but are more wordy and difficult to summarize, mostly about professionalism and training and such. Some of these seem to address the problems that lead to unjustified killing but others are less clear. Time will tell if this effort results in improvements. I'm not saying this is a panacea but it is good to see someone at the state level acknowledge there is a problem and attempt to correct it. One thing that seems to be missing are efforts to develop a better relationship between police officers and the general public that some cities/states have enacted. This could lead to better trust between police and the public and better tips to identify bad guys.
Why is it so?
~Julius Sumner Miller
~Julius Sumner Miller