Police story

Jacksonville Bold, Florida Politics, 2/3/2021

	 
Legislation filed by Jacksonville Democrats in recent days in the House and the Senate would add new layers of accountability for law enforcement as it relates to the policed.

HB 647/SB 942, filed in the House by Rep. Tracie Davis and the Senate by Sen. Audrey Gibson, would compel the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to establish model procedures and minimum requirements for county and local police forces.

The minimum requirements stipulated in the legislation would include safeguards against unauthorized use of force, imposing a duty to intervene for officers who may see a colleague crossing the line, and requirements for departments to discipline scofflaws in the ranks.

Model procedures would include bans on chokeholds, exemplified vividly last summer by George Floyd's strangulation by a Minneapolis police officer, which set off protests and tumult across the nation. No-knock warrants would be banned in case of misdemeanors and the like as well.

Gibson said the matter was urgent and needed attention.

"It is an issue that should be addressed when people are dying because of the methods. There was no law enforcement meeting about the language. Training Standards will reveal other methods. Change is never easy but sometimes necessary. I look forward to working on solutions with law enforcement."