WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on policing Tuesday amid increasing pressure and nationwide protests over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and other black people at the hands of law enforcement officers.
“Today is about pursuing common sense and fighting, fighting for a cause like we seldom get the chance to fight for,” Trump said. “We have to find common ground.”
Trump said that his executive order would set standards “as high and as strong as there is on Earth” for the use of force, and that he would prioritize federal grants to police departments that met those standards.
The order also would create a national database on excessive force complaints and would encourage the involvement of mental health professionals when responding to nonviolent cases, like those involving addiction, homelessness and mental illness.
Trump said that he would leverage federal grant money to encourage police departments to meet a set of standards, including a ban on chokeholds except when an officer’s life is at risk. The Supreme court has already said that under the Constitution, deadly force is only allowed when a police officer fears for their own safety or that of others.
The president also criticized calls from some activists in response to the recent deaths to defund police departments, saying such actions would be antithetical to upholding law and order.
“I strongly oppose the radical and dangerous efforts to defend, dismantle and dissolve our police departments, especially now when we’ve achieved the lowest recorded crime rates in recent history,” Trump said. “Americans know the truth: Without police, there is chaos. Without law, there is anarchy. And without safety, there is catastrophe.”
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Still, Trump’s order fell far short of what activists and some lawmakers have been calling for in the weeks since Floyd’s death, mandating neither an outright ban on chokeholds, including the kind used before Floyd’s death, nor no-knock warrants, as was used in incident leading up to Taylor’s fatal shooting.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., panned Trump’s order as a “modest” action that “will not make up for his years of inflammatory rhetoric and policies designed to roll back the progress made in previous years.”
“Unfortunately, this executive order will not deliver the comprehensive meaningful change and accountability in our nation’s police departments that Americans are demanding,” Schumer said, calling for strong legislation and demanding Trump sign such a measure into law.
Trump opened his remarks Tuesday by saying that shortly before the Rose Garden signing he had met with with family members of several Black people who have recently been killed by police, including Ahmaud Arbery, Botham Jean, Antwon Rose, Jemel Roberson, Atatiana Jefferson, Michael Dean, Darius Tarver, Cameron Lamb and Everett Palmer.
“I can never imagine your pain or the depth of your anguish, but I can promise to fight for justice for all of our people,” the president said of the families.
Trump, who has struggled to provide a political or policy response to the national outrage over Floyd’s death, did not address concerns raised by police reform advocates about racism in policing.
Trump again focused on the cases of violence and destruction happening during recent protests around the country calling for police reforms and racial justice, saying there “will be no more looting or arson, and the penalty will be very grave for those who get caught.”
“Violence and destruction will not be tolerated. We cannot do that. The looters have no cause that they’re fighting for, just trouble,” Trump said.
A majority of the protesters have been peaceful, however, and in addition to the destruction and looting incidents, numerous acts of police violence against demonstrators have been caught on camera.
Congressional action
Trump’s executive order comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill work to pass their own legislation on police reforms.
Democrats unveiled a sweeping policing overhaul bill earlier this month that would ban chokeholds, including the kind a Minneapolis police officer used on Floyd, and no-knock warrants, as was used in the incident that led to Taylor’s fatal shooting.
Senate Republicans, who typically look to the White House for cues as to which direction the party is going on policy issues, began working on their own policing plan earlier this month with South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott — the only Black Republican in the Senate — leading the effort.
But Republican leadership indicated Monday that they were in no rush to pass a police reform bill before the Fourth of July recess, a delay that Scott said would be a “bad decision.”
Trump said that the Republican plan could go “hand-in-hand” with his executive order.
“I am committed to working with Congress on additional measures,” Trump said Tuesday. “Hopefully they will all get together and come up with a solution that goes even beyond what we’re signing today.”
