President Biden pushes Congress to pass George Floyd legislation

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - Police reform has been top of mind for many across the country, especially since the death of George Floyd last summer.

Now, following the guilty verdicts handed to former officer Derek Chauvin, President Joe Biden said it is time to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

“We can and we must do more to reduce the likelihood of tragedy like this will ever happen or occur again,” Biden said in a news conference.

The bill passed in the House but is stalled in the Senate. Many have said this legislation is the next step in preventing situations of excessive force and/or death by the hands of law enforcement.

“The legislation must come down from D.C., where we’ll have the same policy in all of policing,” Caddo Commissioner Ken Epperson said.

In the bill, it specifically bans chokeholds and no-knock warrants “and conditions law enforcement funding for state and local governments.”

Additionally, it requires dashboard cameras, as as well as “uniformed police officers to wear body cameras and requires state and local law enforcement to use existing federal funds to ensure the use of police body cameras.”

Almost 30 years ago, commissioner Epperson wrote an op-ed about Rodney King, an activist who was beaten by police in Los Angeles. He said there are stark similarities between then and now.

“Only thing we need to do in [this op-ed] is change the names and the dates and the times; the same thing is happening now.”

However, he said the most significant difference is the response from federal leadership. In his op-ed, he called out then-president George Bush for his “silence.”

Now, decades later, President Biden is vocal about his position on police reform legislation and said he wants the Senate to pass, so he can sign it into law.

Copyright 2021 KSLA. All rights reserved.