Iowa Democrats and black leaders called Thursday for urgent action by state lawmakers to enact laws regulating police conduct and investigations, after a week of…
Iowa Democrats and black leaders called Thursday for urgent action by state lawmakers to enact laws regulating police conduct and investigations, after a week of protests across the nation over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
On the statehouse steps, Rep. Ras Smith, a Democrat from Waterloo, said lawmakers “must begin to respond to this crisis, to bring justice to George Floyd, and work toward a day where no Iowan has to live in fear of becoming another hashtag.”
The initiative Democrats are calling the More Perfect Union plan includes a measure that would make it illegal for law officers in Iowa to use a chokehold or any other neck restraint unless a person poses an imminent threat of death or bodily injury.
Other proposals would make it illegal for Iowa police departments to hire officers who were fired or who resigned while being investigated for serious misconduct or excessive force, and would empower the state attorney general and county attorneys to bring charges against law enforcement for police misconduct.
