WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden plans to sign a long-awaited executive order reforming policing practices on Wednesday, the second anniversary of the death of George Floyd.
The order will create a national registry of officers fired for misconduct; encourage state and local police to tighten restrictions on chokeholds and no-knock warrants; and restrict the transfer of military equipment to law enforcement agencies, said two sources familiar with the matter.
Biden had been pushing Congress to pass more comprehensive police reform legislation, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. But after that legislation failed to garner bipartisan support, the White House began crafting its own action last year.
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Floyd’s family is expected to be in attendance at the White House on Wednesday, one of the people familiar with the matter said. The family of Floyd, who died after being pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer, had a private meeting with the president and vice president last year on the first anniversary of his death.
The news of Biden’s executive order was first reported by The New York Times.
Police reform has been a key issue with the Democratic Party’s progressive base, particularly among Black voters.
“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,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson in a statement ahead of the White House announcement. “There’s no better way to honor George Floyd’s legacy than for President Biden to take action by signing a police reform executive order.”
The White House had originally aimed for Biden to sign an executive order before his first State of the Union address in March.
The Justice Department in September put new limits on chokeholds and no-knock warrants for the department’s law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
