AAC
COVER STORY
Task Force proposals turn into bills for consideration Legislation benefiting, improving law enforcement in Arkansas part of ‘Back the Blue’ Movement. Story By Dorothy Spector, AAC Law Clerk Photos By BRENT WALKER
O
n June 8, 2020, the bill entitled “The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020” was introduced to the U.S. Congress. The bill seeks to change the procedure and regulations on immunity for law enforcement nationwide. Sections 101 and 102 of the bill would change the willful standard to a recklessness standard, which would explicitly qualify any act by a police officer that is a substantial factor contributing to the death of an individual to equate a death resulting act. Furthermore, Section 102 would amend Section 1979 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1983) to no longer allow immunity or a defense for local law enforcement that acted in good faith or without knowledge that their conduct was unlawful. Consequently, it would be easier for individuals to sue police officers and other members of law enforcement. It will also work to end racial and religious profiling and ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants. This bill passed
the House of Representatives on June 25, 2020, and was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 490. At the state level, locations such as New York, Connecticut, California, Illinois, Utah, Delaware, and Washington, D.C., have prohibited the use of chokeholds, with some identifying the technique as a method of aggravated strangulation. Individual cities and counties also have taken the initiative to ban the use of chokeholds. Houston and Austin, Texas, announced executive orders banning chokeholds; Dallas announced a formal ban on chokeholds and any force intended to restrict a person’s airways; Broward County, Florida, will prohibit chokeholds to restrain or secure persons except when deadly force is justified; Miami is prohibiting lateral vascular neck restraints (LVNR), chokeholds and any other restraint that restricts free movement of the neck or head or the ability to breath; Chicago will ban “caSee
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