Law Professor Helps Change Laws Governing Police Use of Deadly Force
Voice of America
11 May 2021, 21:35 GMT+10 WASHINGTON - Long before police brutality emerged as a dominant public issue in the United States, Cynthia Lee, a George Washington University professor and an expert on race and self-defense, devoted much of her research to deadly police shootings of unarmed Black men and women.
In a 2004 study, she concluded that stereotypes about African Americans, often working at a subconscious level, influenced a police officer s split-second decision about whether to use deadly force, accounting for the disproportionately large number of Black victims in police shootings.
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The new body-worn camera is displayed on the uniform of a Wilmington Police officer. (courtesy City of Wilmington)
Last week, a statewide task force looking for ways to improve police accountability recommended that all Delaware police wear body cameras. Now, Wilmington police will begin training on the devices, with plans to put them fully into department-wide use starting in June.
“Body-worn cameras are welcomed and needed,” said Mayor Mike Purzycki. “I applaud the chief of police and his staff for embracing this technology and adding it to the array of innovative policing strategies that have come to define this outstanding department.”
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A task force to change policing has voted on its first set of recommendations to Delaware lawmakers, which includes asking lawmakers to increase transparency in its Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights.
In what is likely one of its final meetings, the Law Enforcement Accountability Task Force on Thursday approved nearly all recommendations from three of its four subcommittees, asking lawmakers to change how police use force, interact with the community and collect data.
Despite several law enforcement and Republican members voting against it, the group was able to pass a recommendation to make police more transparent by amending the Officers Bill of Rights, a controversial section of state law that allows police departments to decide how to discipline officers for misconduct and limits how much is disclosed about that discipline.
Police task force asks for added transparency in Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights Sarah Gamard, Delaware News Journal
Headlines April 28, 2021
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A task force to change policing has voted on its first set of recommendations to Delaware lawmakers, which includes asking lawmakers to increase transparency in its Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights.
In what is likely one of its final meetings, the Law Enforcement Accountability Task Force on Thursday approved nearly all recommendations from three of its four subcommittees, asking lawmakers to change how police use force, interact with the community and collect data.
Despite several law enforcement and Republican members voting against it, the group was able to pass a recommendation to make police more transparent by amending the Officers Bill of Rights, a controversial section of state law that allows police departments to decide how to discipline officers for misconduct and l
Delaware News Journal
Democratic state lawmakers appear to be drafting a bill to erase the state s secretive policing laws and open up disciplinary records to the public.
The proposal is part of a 62-page draft report recently shared with members of Delaware s police accountability task force as it prepares to hold a meeting next week to decide what policing reforms to ask of the General Assembly.
The policy recommendation report, a copy of which was obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal, includes the draft of a bill to amend the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights, a controversial section of state law that dictates how officers are disciplined and how much the public is allowed to know about that discipline.