St Paul (Minnesota, US): The Minnesota Legislature has passed a package of police accountability measures early Tuesday. Among them are a ban on neck restraints like the one that was used on George Floyd. The neck restraint by the police led to George Floyd’s death.
The sweeping package was said to be one of the most substantial changes to Minnesota state’s criminal justice system in years. It also bans chokeholds and so-called warrior-style trainings. During this training procedure officers are instructed to view all encounters as inherently dangerous.
Passage of the measures comes after nearly two months of negotiations that followed Floyd’s death May 25.
The Black man was restrained face down in the street while handcuffed and with three officers holding him down. Among them was a white officer who had a knee to Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes.
The House approved the measure 102 to 29 just before midnight Monday. The Senate passed it 60 to seven and sent the bill to Governor Tim Walz a couple of hours later.
Also read: Black lives do not matter in US: George Floyd’s brother
The legislation also improves data collection around deadly force encounters and creates a new state unit to investigate those cases. It increases funding for crisis intervention training, creates an arbitration panel to handle police misconduct cases and establishes incentives for officers to live in the communities they police, the ‘Star Tribune’ reported.
The Democratic governor had to call the special session to give lawmakers a chance to rescind the emergency powers he’s been using to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. House Democrats blocked a GOP effort to void those powers.
The session also gave legislators another chance to pass the policing measures and a bonding bill, which they were unable to agree on during last month’s special session. The bonding bill fell to the wayside as legislators worked to pass police reform as time expired on the session.
