WASHINGTON (AP) — Following weeks of national protests since the death of George Floyd, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that he said would encourage better police practices.
Trump’s executive order would establish a database that tracks police officers with excessive use-of-force complaints in their records.
Trump said that, as part of the order, the use of chokeholds, which have become a symbol of police brutality, would be banned “except if an officer’s life is at risk.”
Actually, the order instructs the Justice Department to push local police departments to be certified by a “reputable independent credentialing body” with use-of-force policies that prohibit the use of chokeholds, except when the use of deadly force is allowed by law.
Trump’s audience included police officials and members of Congress, and came after he met privately at the White House with the families of men and women who have been killed in interactions with police.