PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A state lawmaker in Rhode Island is renewing calls to overhaul the state’s police misconduct law following Tuesday’s guilty verdicts in the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer in the killing of George Floyd.
Democratic Rep. Anastasia Williams, a leading Black lawmaker from Providence, said in an op-ed Wednesday that her bill to amend the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights is needed to make sure the process of investigating and disciplining officers for misconduct is fair and transparent.
“With the whole world finally standing up, recognizing, mobilizing and protesting against the trials and tribulations that people of color suffer daily at the hands of unfit law enforcement officers, now is the time to reform our state’s law so that rogue cops can no longer hide behind a system of protection,” she wrote.
The House Judiciary Committee heard testimony earlier this month on Williams’ bill, which would change the makeup of police disciplinary boards that hear misconduct complaints, among other steps.
But it’s not clear how much support the proposal and other policing measures introduced this year have among the state’s Democratic leadership.
House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi on Tuesday stopped short of endorsing any proposal, as did Gov. Dan McKee, The Boston Globe reports.
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