Thread by @SenJeffMerkley

BREAKING NEWS: I have just announced legislation to create a national database of police misconduct. This is the first of many steps I’m working on in the fight to end police brutality and systemic racism. I'd like to discuss those steps with you now: merkley.senate.gov/news/press-rel…

Like many, I’ve been inspired and moved by the hundreds of thousands of people across America speaking out and standing up for Black lives. There is no magic wand for righting historic wrongs, but there’s also no excuse for inaction.

It’s important that I acknowledge the immense privilege I have to not only have a voice, but to be in a position where I can work to change the laws. The weight of that is not lost on me, and I will work beside you—all of you—to make that change happen, and to make it happen now.

It’s also important to make clear that none of this would be possible without the leaders of color who have invested their time, money, blood, sweat, tears, and even their lives advocating, building this movement, and proposing solutions.

These ideas and proposals are their work. I’m writing some bills, and supporting some of the great work my colleagues are doing to change federal law to accomplish these things:

1. Create a publicly searchable, national database of police officers who are found to have engaged in misconduct involving inappropriate use of force or discrimination.

2. Require national data collection of police-involved uses of force, including the demographics of officers and civilians involved.

3. Make police use of chokeholds and other physical tactics that restrict oxygen or blood flow a civil rights violation.

4. Require mechanisms for civilian oversight and review of local police departments’ policies and actions.

5. End the use of no-knock warrants, such as the one that led to the horrific death of Breonna Taylor.

6. End the use of qualified immunity to shield rogue police officers from legal accountability.

7. Incentivize states to pursue independent investigations, and, where warranted, criminal prosecutions of deadly force incidents, as well as training that emphasizes de-escalation.

8. Outlaw racial profiling in policing.

9. Require police to intervene if other officers are using excessive force.

10. End the transfer of battlefield-grade weapons from the U.S. Armed Forces to police departments.

This list is only a start. @SenBooker and @SenKamalaHarris are putting together a package of comprehensive reforms to fundamentally change law enforcement for the better. They are strong, thoughtful leaders and I look forward to working with them on these issues.

We will not be able to scrub out this long-standing stain of racism and oppression overnight. But a new generation of leaders is in the streets today, marching, fed up, demanding change, and writing a new chapter for civil rights and justice.

I hear you and I am with you in this struggle.

(End.)