Acknowledging that “progress can be slow and frustrating,” President Biden last week signed a long-anticipated executive order aimed at reforming the criminal justice system — a full two years since a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes. Even as he signed the order, Mr. Biden admitted it was insufficient. It directly affects only 100,000 federal law enforcement officers. Most policing occurs on the state and local level; only Congress or state and local leaders can overhaul law enforcement on a larger scale. The president’s action is an accomplishment, but it is just as much a reflection of how much more the nation must do.
Acknowledging that “progress can be slow and frustrating,” President Biden last week signed a long-anticipated executive order aimed at reforming the criminal justice system — a full two years since a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes. Even as he signed the order, Mr. Biden admitted it was insufficient. It directly affects only 100,000 federal law enforcement officers. Most policing occurs on the state and local level; only Congress or state and local leaders can overhaul law enforcement on a larger scale. The president’s action is an accomplishment, but it is just as much a reflection of how much more the nation must do.
This is not to say that Mr. Biden’s order is useless. It restores Obama administration restrictions on the transfer of military equipment to police departments, with exceptions for gear needed for “disaster-related emergencies; active shooter scenarios; hostage or search and rescue operations; and anti-terrorism efforts.” It mandates body cameras for all federal officers, restricts chokeholds and curtails no-knock warrants. It sets narrow limits on when force is permitted and requires officers to intervene to stop excessive force and to render medical aid.
Part of the point is to set high standards that local police departments might adopt voluntarily. But the order also envisions the Justice Department providing more oversight of local police through “pattern or practice” investigations, which the Trump administration had put on ice. And it requires more information to be reported on police misconduct and use of force, including the creation of a new database to which all federal agencies must contribute. Simply getting reliable numbers on policing in the United States has long been a challenge, in part because local departments have failed to report to an FBI use of force database. The order directs federal authorities to help local agencies report their numbers.
It is unclear how much extra participation this would yield, just as it is unknown whether local departments will adopt Mr. Biden’s new federal policing standards without more of a nudge. But the president’s powers are limited. Members of Congress struggled to agree on a bill that would have done much more, and talks collapsed last September.
“There’s a concern that the reckoning on race inspired two years ago is beginning to fade,” Mr. Biden said. His executive order cannot be the last word. Criminal justice reform is often attacked as anti-police. Done smartly, it helps good police officers, who get more trust from the communities they are sworn to protect and who are no longer harmed by association with bad cops who desecrate their profession. More important, reform can curb the extent to which Americans of color feel threatened by those who wield deadly policing powers. The only acceptable choice is for the nation’s leaders — from the local level to the federal one — to keep trying.
