Policing is an essential component of public safety, but it has become hyper-politicized and polarized to the detriment of the profession and the people it serves. If you think Black lives matter, you must think blue lives don’t, and vice versa. If you work with the police you must be a racist, and if you…
One reform that grew out of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020 was that recalcitrant states with strong police unions passed decertification laws to take away peace officer licenses from those with a track record of seriously abusing citizens. California and Massachusetts, two states with strong police unions, passed laws to decertify…
ST. LOUIS — Five years before George Floyd died of “asphyxia-restraint” on a Minneapolis street, 27-year-old Nicholas Gilbert died in a St. Louis police holdover cell with six officers on top of him. He was handcuffed with his legs shackled while gasping, “It hurts. Stop.” Three years before Breonna Taylor was killed by police in…
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed a police officer bill of rights into law July 14, even though other states have moved to repeal their law enforcement officer bills of rights as part of a larger effort to hold police officers accountable. Surprisingly, just over a year after the murder of George Floyd, Missouri’s leading media…
The initial press release from the Minnesota Police Department was headlined, “Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction.” That’s how police first described the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, after former police officer Derek Chauvi kneeled on the 46-year-old’s neck and back for more than nine minutes. Chauvin was convicted of…