Minnesota lawmakers pass police accountability package
Source: AP
By STEVE KARNOWSKI
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Legislature passed a broad slate of police accountability measures early Tuesday that includes a ban on neck restraints like the one that was used on George Floyd before his death in Minneapolis.
The package also bans chokeholds and so-called warrior-style training, which critics say promotes excessive force. It imposes a duty to intercede on officers who see a colleague using excessive force. It changes rules on the use of force to stress the sanctity of life. It makes changes in arbitration rules affecting police unions. Officers will get more training on dealing with people with mental health issues and autism. The measure also creates a new advisory council for the state board that licenses officers.
“This is a really a great bill, but it is only a first step,” Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said at a news conference. “It paves the way for transformational change, but it doesn’t bring about transformational change.”
Democratic House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, of Golden Valley, told reporters that Minnesota will “continue to live in a powder keg” as long as its racial inequities in health, education, income and policing continue to exist.
House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown with Assistant Minority Leader Rep. Anne Neu, R-North Branch Monday, July 20, 2020 in St. Paul, Minn. With him is Assistant Minority Leader Rep. Anne Neu, R-North Branch.(Glenn Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP)
Read more: https://apnews.com/6ae40d92363db59a112bf6e96eaef8da
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This is their first step
