It was refreshing this week to see that a Republican-majority House committee endorsed a law enforcement reform bill that has the support of police agencies, minority groups and business leaders.
As reported by IBJ Statehouse reporter Lindsey Erdody, the bill, authored by Republican Rep. Greg Steuerwald, would largely ban the use of chokeholds, penalize officers for intentionally turning off body and vehicle cameras, and make it easier for the Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board to decertify bad-acting officers.
That last part might be especially crucial.
The training board can already decertify an officer—meaning he or she can no longer serve on any police force in the state—who is convicted of at least two misdemeanors or one felony. If the bill becomes law, the board will be able to decertify officers convicted of just one misdemeanor or simply if the officer has “engaged in conduct that would be a criminal offense,” even if the officer is never convicted.
That gives the training board—experts in law enforcement—much more latitude to evaluate officers’ actions and act when the board determines an officer should no longer be in the field.
That’s investing a lot of authority and responsibility into the board—power that could be abused—but we think the flexibility is warranted. The current law is not strong enough and more must be done to rid police agencies of officers who aren’t worthy of the badge.
We also support a provision that would require law enforcement agencies to obtain previous employment records about potential new hires, including complete employment files, details related to disciplinary actions and information about internal investigations from any agency that has employed the individual. And the bill would require prior employers to share that information.
That’s key to preventing bad police officers from moving from one agency to another to escape discipline or letting one department pass off its problem employees to another community. And it’s a rule good police agencies want.
According to Erdody’s story about a hearing on the bill, Lt. Brad Hoffeditz, the legislative director for the Indiana State Police, said the employment language is “a big deal for us” because agencies often don’t provide any information on former officers.
The bill is a priority for the House Republican Caucus, which means it’s likely to pass that chamber easily in the coming weeks before moving over to the Senate.
We urge the Senate to take similar action.
After all, this is a meaningful piece of legislation that has the support of the Indiana State Police, Indiana State Fraternal Order of Police, Indiana Law Enforcement Academy and Indiana Sheriff’s Association, as well as the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, the NAACP and the Indiana Black Expo, plus the Indy Chamber and the Indiana Public Defender Council.
That doesn’t happen every day at the Statehouse.
So let’s pass this bill into law and take a step in what will be a long path to building trust and understanding among police, minority groups and communities