Schumer pans Trump executive order on police reform

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) lambasted the executive order on policing signed by President Trump on Tuesday, saying its reforms will not offset “years of inflammatory rhetoric and policies.”

“While the president has finally acknowledged the need for policing reform, one modest executive order will not make up for his years of inflammatory rhetoric and policies designed to roll back the progress made in previous years,” Schumer said in a statement Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, this executive order will not deliver the comprehensive meaningful change and accountability in our nation’s police departments that Americans are demanding,” he added. “Congress needs to quickly pass strong and bold legislation with provisions that makes it easier to hold police officers accountable for abuses, and President Trump must commit to signing it into law.”

The order signed by Trump included increased funding for police training and a ban on chokeholds with an exemption for cases where officers’ lives are in danger, although it is unclear who will be responsible for assessing mortal danger. The White House has not yet released the full text of the order.

Both the GOP-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House have separate police reform bills in the works, although it remains unclear whether either proposal can pass the other chamber in its current form. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who is spearheading the GOP’s proposal, said he expects the Senate bill to also address chokeholds but that there is still debate over Congress’s authority over police departments.

The House proposal, meanwhile, includes a national chokehold ban, national use-of-force standards and a federal database of police misconduct. Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass (D-Calif.) told Fox News’s Chris Wallace Sunday that police groups such as the Fraternal Order of Police have expressed support for the national standards aspect.

“Yesterday I had an hourlong meeting with the Fraternal Order of Police, and they are very supportive of the idea of national standards and significant training,” she said. “You should be accredited to be a police officer. Any profession that allows you to use lethal force, there should be very significant training.”