Senator Says Cultural Change Needed Following Chauvin Verdict

(KNSI) – Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar says changes in policing are needed following the guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial. On NBC’s Meet the Press, she urged Congress to pass a police reform bill.

“You cannot confuse accountability for true justice. That’s why we must pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to change this going forward.”

The legislation aims to combat police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias in policing. The expansive bill would grant power to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to issue subpoenas to police departments as part of “pattern or practice” investigations into whether there has been a “pattern and practice” of bias or misconduct by the department. It would also provide grants to state attorneys general to “create an independent process to investigate misconduct or excessive use of force” by police forces and establish a federal registry of police misconduct complaints and disciplinary actions.

The Department of Justice opened an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department last week after the verdicts were read. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the investigation would determine “whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing.”

The investigation will dig into the department’s practices surrounding excessive use of force – including during protests, treatment of those with mental illness, and discriminatory practices.

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