American States diverge on police reforms after George Floyd killing

January 2, 202

merican state, Maryland repealed its half-century-old Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights.

Washington state reformed use-of-force policies and created a new agency to investigate when officers use deadly force.

California overcame objections from police unions to make sure officers fired in one jurisdiction couldn’t be hired in another.

Those are some of the far-reaching policing changes passed this year in response to the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. But the first full year of state legislative sessions since his death sparked a summer of racial justice protests produced a far more mixed response in the rest of the country.

A number of American states implemented incremental reforms, such as banning chokeholds or tightening rules around use of body cameras, while several Republican-led states responded by granting police even greater authority and passing laws that cracked down on protesters.

[Associated Press]

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