White House to issue policing order on anniversary of Floyd’s death

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President Biden is expected to sign an executive order Wednesday aimed at bolstering police accountability, a move that could reenergize federal reform efforts as the nation marks the second anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd, according to two people briefed on the announcement.

The White House has scheduled a signing ceremony at 4 p.m. Wednesday at which the president will be joined by Floyd’s family members, civil rights advocates and law enforcement officials. Biden will call for the creation of national standards for the accreditation of police departments and a national database of officers with substantiated complaints and disciplinary records, including those fired for misconduct.. The executive order also will instruct federal law enforcement agencies to update their use-of-force policies.

“We feel that this executive order should lay the groundwork for moving forward in a manner which will standardize training and procedures and hopefully standardize police across the country,” said Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, who was involved in negotiations with the White House and was briefed on the contents of the order. “And we hope it will be an element in healing the rifts that exist in some places between police officers and the communities they serve.”

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Biden’s executive order also will authorize the Justice Department to use federal grant funding to incentive local police to follow the federal government’s lead in tightening restrictions on the use of choke-holds and no-knock warrants. It will set new restrictions on the sale of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, the people familiar with the document said.

Biden, who is returning from a trip to Asia on Tuesday, will issue the highly-anticipated executive order amid a rise in violent crime and concern among civil rights groups that the White House has lost a sense of urgency around police reform.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Biden announced he would push forward on police reform through executive authority last September after the collapse of sweeping legislation in Congress that would have banned choke holds and no-knock warrants, prohibited racial profiling and eliminated qualified immunity for police officers.

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The negotiations, however, were fraught, with police groups denouncing a leaked draft in January which stated that there was “systemic racism” in the criminal justice system.

Pasco said the final version includes “allusions to racism. But it’s all in the manner in which it was presented. Significant changes have been made in the phrasing, in the policy statement.”

This is a developing story. It will be updated.

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