WASHINGTON — Emergency legislation for police reform has been signed into law by D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Bowser, which the D.C. police chief called a "gutshot."
The D.C. Council unanimously passed a temporary package of police reforms on Tuesday, June 10, called the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act 2020.
The bill bans the use of tear gas on protesters, neck restraints like the one used on George Floyd, the hiring of officers with a history of misconduct, and requires the mayor to release body-camera footage of officers who use force on civilians within 72 hours.
The police union slammed the bill on Twitter, writing "It's beyond comprehension that an entire deliberative body of legislators would so hastily make such extreme changes without the proper input and review."
"When you're putting all that hard work, you're open-minded to reform, you're trying to police in a way that the community accepts, for someone to even suggest that you're not, when all that effort is going into it, is deflating," DC Police Chief Peter Newsham said. "I can't come up with a better word than that."
