US Democrats propose sweeping police reform as response to Floyd death

The legislation, if adopted, would ban police chokeholds, reduce legal protections for officers and establish a national database of excessive-force incidents.

US Democrats have proposed a sweeping overhaul of the police after the death of George Floyd ignited weeks of protests.

The legislation, if adopted, would ban police chokeholds — a restraining move that severely limits the amount of air that can pass through a victim’s neck —, reduce legal protections for officers and establish a national database of excessive-force incidents.

“We cannot settle for anything less than transformative structural change,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

However, it is unclear what chance the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 has of getting support from the Republican Party.

It comes after a majority of the members of the Minneapolis City Council said they support disbanding the city’s police department, an aggressive stance that comes just as the state launched a civil rights investigation after George Floyd’s death.

Nine of the council’s 12 members appeared with activists at a rally in a city park on Sunday afternoon and vowed to end policing as the city currently knows it.

Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison promised that the council would “dismantle” the department.

Lisa Bender, the council president, said that “it is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe”, adding that efforts at an incremental reform “have failed”.

George Floyd, a 46-year-old black-American died in Minneapolis on May 25 after a white officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee into his neck, ignoring Floyd’s cries of distress.

His death sparked protests — some violent, many peaceful — that spread nationwide and globally.