President Donald Trump signed a police reform executive order in the Rose Garden at the White House on Tuesday.
As calls for changes in policing have erupted nationwide, the president offered consoling words to the victims and families of victims of racially-charged violence while also expressing support for police. President Trump said the order would hold the police to “the highest professional standards.”
“These are incredible people … and it’s so sad. Many of these families lost their loved ones in deadly interactions with police … All Americans mourn by your side, your loved ones will not have died in vain,” President Trump said. “I can promise to fight for justice for all of our people and I gave a commitment to all of those families … We are going to pursue what we said we will be pursuing it, and we will be pursuing it strongly.”
In the order are changes in the use of force practices, information sharing to track officers who have repeated complaints against them, and federal incentives for police departments to deploy non-police experts on issues like mental health, homelessness, and addiction. The order would also ban chokehold except in the event that an officer’s life is at risk.
During the event, the president also spoke out against efforts to defund and dismantle police departments.
“I strongly oppose the radical and dangerous efforts to defund, dismantle and dissolve our police departments. Especially now when we’ve achieved the lowest recorded crime rates in recent history,” President Trump said, while acknowledging a “tiny” number of bad police officers. “Without police there is chaos, without law there is anarchy and without safety there is a catastrophe.”
