Democrats in Congress had previously submitted a bill aimed at extensive police reform.
The United States authorities will not dissolve the police or reduce their funding. U.S. President Donald Trump said this on Monday during a meeting with law enforcement officials at the White House.
“We have excellent law enforcement officers, I’m very proud of them. There will be no deprivation of [police] funding, no abolition of our police force. There will be no dissolution of our police force. Our police allow us to live in peace, we want to make sure that there are no bad actors in its ranks, sometimes you see terrible things, as we saw just recently, but <…> 99% of them are great people”, – said the head of the White House.
In turn, Justice Secretary – U.S. Attorney General William Barr said at the same event that the U.S. authorities are ready to work with law enforcement agencies on the issue of standards of use of force by police officers. “I know that police leaders are very interested in clarity and recommendations on the use of force in some matters <…> to ensure that standards are in place, to ensure that they are trained, to ensure that [standards] are adhered to. We look forward to working with you to do this,” Barr said.
U.S. Congress democrats presented a bill Monday that aims to bring about sweeping police reform in response to massive protests in the country. The initiative, among other things, bans law enforcement officers from using asphyxiation techniques, creates a national database to track police misconduct, and in some cases bans the issuance of a warrant allowing police officers to break into a house without warning. The proposed reform increases the accountability of law enforcement officials, including for acts of violence and arbitrariness against suspects.