Federal Law Enforcement Reforms by Biden's Executive Order

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

A broad range of new policing standards have been adopted by the federal law enforcement agencies under an executive order signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday. Local and state police departments are not affected by the order, but they are encouraged to follow it.

A number of provisions of the order ban chokeholds except when required by law, including a police misconduct database, a body camera mandate, and a limit on no-knock warrants.

“It’s a measure of what we can do together to heal the very soul of this nation to address profound fear and trauma exhaustion, particularly black Americans have experienced for generations and to channel a private pain and public outrage into a rare mark of progress for years to come,” Biden said during a live bill signing ceremony.

“Why haven’t I done this executive order earlier?” asked Biden during his speech. “If I’d done it, I was worried it would undercut the effort to get the law passed.”

26 May 2022