Norton Introduces Bill to Create Local Task Forces on Policing in Wake of Continuing Police Shootings

Statement

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced she has introduced a bill to establish a grant program from existing Department of Justice funds to create local Task Forces on 21st Century Policing. The grants would encourage states and localities to implement former President Obama's 2015 "Task Force on 21st Century Policing" report and bring police, community representatives, and public officials together to identify local policing issues and best policing practices. Norton first introduced this bill in response to the shooting of an unarmed African American man, Stephon Clark, in Sacramento and the decision of Louisiana authorities to refuse to press charges against Baton Rouge officers who shot and killed Alton Sterling -- shootings since repeated in many other jurisdictions.

"It is unconscionable that Congress has done nothing to help deter police-involved shootings as unarmed African Americans continue disproportionately to be shot in the nation's streets," Norton said. "Policing is fundamentally a local issue, but Congress can take meaningful action by providing states and localities with grants to bring communities and police together to find what works for them. For too long, Congress has sat idly by while the scourge of gun violence and racial profiling goes unaddressed. My bill provides a path forward."

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