humanrightswatch:

US: Holder Should Press for Police Reform

Human Rights Watch urged Attorney General Holder to take the following steps at the federal level:

• Push for improvements in the federal collection of data on the use of excessive force by federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement. Federal law (42 USC 14142) requires the US attorney general to collect data on the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers but does not require state, local, and tribal law enforcement to submit any information to the US government on excessive force incidents. The Justice Department has not collected – or has not been able to collect – that data in any useful way. Holder should work with Congress to give incentives to state and local authorities to provide data on excessive force incidents.
   
• Press Congress to pass the End Racial Profiling Act. The End Racial Profiling Act, which had been co-sponsored by President Barack Obama when he was a US senator, is pending before the US Congress. It would condition federal funding in part on certification by local law enforcement agencies that their members had been trained to eliminate practices that result in or encourage racial profiling. Training to eliminate racial profiling may help local law enforcement officials recognize bias and how it can affect their policing decisions and interactions with community members.
   
• Issue updated, stronger racial profiling guidance at the federal level.  The New York Timesreported in April that the Justice Department was on the verge of issuing an updated, stronger version of its Guidance Regarding the Use of Race by Federal Law Enforcement Agencies, first issued by the George W. Bush administration in 2003. The updated version has yet to be released.
   

“The unrest in Ferguson points to broader problems of policing in the US,” Morales said. “Ferguson is calling for changes. Attorney General Holder should offer them real reform.” 

Photo: A line of police officers yells at a crowd of rowdy demonstrators during further protests in reaction to the shooting of Michael Brown near Ferguson, Missouri August 18, 2014. © 2014 Reuters