Trump to sign executive order on police reform Tuesday

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on police reform tomorrow, he said Monday, as activists ramp up pressure for an overhaul of U.S. policing practices. 

Trump, speaking to reporters at a White House roundtable event Monday afternoon, said he believed the order would be “pretty comprehensive.”

“Basically, we’re going to be talking about things that we’ve been watching and seeing for the last month, and we’re going to have some solutions, some good solutions,” Trump said without providing further details.

The multi-pronged directive is aimed at creating funding incentives for police departments to improve their practices, senior administration officials said in a call with reporters Monday evening. 

The order will focus on improving officer retention and recruitment practices, including encouraging departments to recruit from within the communities they will patrol, the officials said. It will also prioritize “co-respondent services” intended to more deeply involve social workers in responding to certain nonviolent calls — such as those involving mental health, drug addiction and homelessness issues — rather than cops alone.

“In many cases they’re not the best ones to respond to these types of efforts,” one of the officials said.

The officials stressed that providing federal money as an incentive is distinctly different from “defunding” the police — a demand that is quickly growing from within the massive protests that have arisen across the nation in the weeks following the death of George Floyd.

“What we want to be doing is incentivizing people to take on those best standards, improve their training and do the retention of good officers,” said another official on the call, “but you’re never going to solve this problem by demonizing the police. You have to solve this problem by working with law enforcement and with the police to make progress together.”

The administration worked with numerous police groups, faith leaders and family organizations in crafting the order, according to the senior administration officials.

During an event in Dallas last week, the president said that the order would “encourage police departments nationwide to meet the most current professional standards of force” and de-escalation. He said “that means force, but force with compassion.” 

The White House declined to comment Monday when asked for further details about the order.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/15/trump-to-sign-executive-order-on-police-reform-tuesday.html