Floyd family lawyer, Sharpton and NAACP Legal Defense Fund urge senators to oppose GOP police reform
The political future of a Senate Republican police reform bill has been thrown into doubt after a trio of influential voices urged senators to oppose the measure.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday voicing opposition to the bill, which was introduced last week by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in response to national protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
Lisa Cylar Barrett, the group’s director of policy, said that Scott’s measure “allows federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to continue to use policing tactics that have been known to hurt communities of color, such as chokeholds and no-knock warrants.”
“In this moment, we cannot support legislation that does not embody a strong accountability framework for police officers and other law enforcement who engage in misconduct as well as needed reforms to policing practices,” Cylar Barrett said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/floyd-family-lawyer-sharpton-and-naacp-legal-defense-fund-urge-senators-to-oppose-gop-police-reform-bill/2020/06/22/9b667f3e-b4e5-11ea-a8da-693df3d7674a_story.html#click=https://t.co/VUAogrENui
