Jacksonville-area leaders weigh-in on President Trump’s police reform order

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President Donald Trump speaks during an event on police reform, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, June 16, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON – Following weeks of national protests since the death of George Floyd, President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that he said would encourage better police practices.

The order (full copy below) rejects the topic of defending police. It calls for tracking officer misconduct to prevent troubled officers from being rehired at other law enforcement agencies after they’ve been fired. There are other items in the order that limit what officers can do during an arrest.

The order instructs the Justice Department to push local police departments to be certified by a ``reputable independent credentialing body`` with use-of-force policies that prohibit the use of chokeholds, except when the use of deadly force is allowed by law.

Steve Zona, president of the Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police, weighed-in on that element of the reform order.

“We haven’t used that in Jacksonville since the mid-90s and we haven’t trained it, so, there are some positives in there that I think some agencies around the country need to adopt the best standards," Zona said.

Chokeholds are already largely banned in police departments nationwide.

The order also calls for the state attorney general to create a database that keeps track of officers who are fired or lose their certification of law enforcement as a result of a criminal conviction for something they did illegally while on-duty. The database would also include civil judgements imposed on officers for improper use of force.

Also, the database would keep track of officers who resign or retire while under investigation. Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said it is a good way to keep troubled officers from leaving one agency and being hired in a different jurisdiction.

“If you have bad officers that don’t need to be in policing, that’s a good way to get rid of them," Leeper said.

The order would also give police departments a financial incentive to adopt best practices and encourage co-responder programs, in which social workers join police when they respond to nonviolent calls involving mental health, addiction and homeless issues.

“It’s good to have those that deal with those issues on a daily basis to respond to ease the situation," Leeper said. "There’s a lot of things people call 911 for that law enforcement doesn’t need to be involved in and that’s probably one of them.”

“I think the message from the president today was very clear. Law enforcement around the country does an amazing job, and we’re needed in this country, otherwise there would be chaos," Zona said. "I think the executive order contains some things that are very positive and could set the stage for some good dialog and reform going forward.”

The White House action came as Democrats and Republicans in Congress have been rolling out their own packages of policing changes. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the sole African American Republican in the Senate, has been crafting the GOP legislative package, which will include new restrictions on police chokeholds and greater use of police body cameras, among other provisions.

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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Kevin Freking, Colleen Long, Michael Balsamo, Alexandra Jaffe and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.


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