House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other top Democrats in the House and the Senate on Monday unveiled far-reaching legislation to overhaul policing in the United States.
The bill, called the “Justice in Policing Act,” would ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants in drug cases, according to a House Democratic aide and a bill summary obtained by NBC News.
The legislation, which has more than 200 Democratic co-sponsors in the House and the Senate, would require local police departments to send data on the use of force to the federal government and create a grant program that would allow state attorneys general to create an independent process to investigate misconduct or excessive use of force, according to the five-page summary of the bill. Further, the bill would make it easier for people to recover damages when police departments violate their civil rights and, for the first time, would make lynching a federal hate crime.
A training program would be created under the bill that would cover racial bias and duty to intervene, and the measure would require that police officers use deadly force only as a last resort and use de-escalation techniques. The measure would also create a federal registry for misconduct complaints and disciplinary actions against police officers.
Under the bill, federal uniformed police officers would be required to wear body cameras and marked federal police vehicles would be required to have dashboard cameras. The legislation would also limit the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local police departments.
Pelosi said that in the coming weeks, the House will hold hearings, a markup and a vote on the legislation. Democratic leaders expressed confidence that it would pass the House, and Pelosi said she hopes Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., would "swiftly" take it up.
