Local law enforcement officials generally support a statewide police reform bill that awaits Gov. Roy Cooper’s signature; however, some question whether the legislation goes far enough to affect actual change.
“There’s some good stuff in there and there’s some things they could’ve done a little better on,” Murphy assistant police chief Dustin Smith said. “I don't know how much reform it’s actually going to do.”
Senate Bill 300 received final approval by the General Assembly on Aug. 24, after a unanimous vote in the Senate. The House previously approved the bill 100-2 and it heads to the governor’s desk for approval.
The bill would establish several databases to track use-of-force and disciplinary matters; however, some of the information will not be available to the public. While the names of officers who face suspensions or revocations will be openly available, the public will not have access to a database that will track critical incidents resulting in death or serious injury.
“A lot of times, agencies will allow a problem to resign, and it ends up at some other agency,” said Joe Wood, chief deputy of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, adding that he feels the databases are a good idea.
Meanwhile, some question whether the databases will have unintended consequences.
“If it’s a justified use of force, what’s the point of putting an officer in a database?” Smith said. “I worry that it’s going to push officers to second-guess themselves a lot more. It could lead to officers getting hurt or killed.”
Additionally, the bill would require all law enforcement agencies in the state to implement an “early warning system” that documents and tracks the actions of officers in order to intervene and improve performance. Agencies will be required to track collisions, citizen complaints, use of force and firearm discharges.
The bill would also require prosecutors and judges to notify the state whenever they issue a Giglio letter banning an officer from testifying in court. Police are issued such letters when prosecutors believe an officer’s actions diminishes their credibility to a point where a defendant could use that perceived lack of integrity to their advantage in court.
While the bill requires the issuing party to share such letters with the state, which will subsequently provide them to any agency that later hires the officer, it doesn’t mention any penalties for failing to report the information. The bill does not require law enforcement officials to inform the general public about such matters, nor does it obligate state officials to take action against any officer who receives a Giglio letter.
“So neither the Legislature nor the public get to know what officers have been Giglio’ed?” local defense attorney Rich Cassady said after reading the ratified version of the bill. “What possible purpose does it serve to hide the identities of officers that have received a Giglio letter from both the Legislature and the public?”
The bill also requires FBI criminal background checks and psychological screenings for new hires; however, it stops short of mandating additional psychological evaluations as officers reach career milestones.
“There should be a mandate for psychological evals at the 8- or 10-year mark, and they should be paid for by the state,” Smith said, adding that 30 years of “trying to solve everyone else's problems” weighs on officers mentally.
He said officers shouldn’t necessarily lose their job when they develop mental health issues, but the ongoing screenings can help address problems with aggression or suicidal tendencies earlier rather than later.
Senate Bill 300 also establishes a duty for law enforcement officers to intervene in excessive use of force and report it to superiors. Local officials believe the measure has upside, as it may provide officers a way to justify reporting perceived excessive force without feeling as if they betrayed a brotherhood; however, it could have unintended consequences.
“You could have officers criminally charged for being there, even when they didn't have anything to do with the incident and [didn’t completely see what happened],” Sheriff Derrick Palmer said.
At the very least, local officials hope the duty to intervene provision will encourage officers to understand when they’ve met force with enough force to subdue the threat.
“When you're in a physical struggle the human body starts dumping endorphins and chemicals into your brain and amps up every part of your body,” Wood said. “You have to train yourself to know when enough force is enough.”
The bill further mandates ongoing in-service training on ethics, mental health, community policing, minority sensitivity, use of force and duty to intervene.
If SB 300 becomes law, immediate family members of someone killed or seriously injured by police would be able to see video footage within three business days of the incident. Lawmakers pushed for the change after Andrew Brown Jr. was killed by Pasquotank County deputies in April. Officials stalled the release of the body-camera footage, amplifying outrage over the incident.
The bill also increases protections for police by making resisting arrest while causing serious injury to an officer a felony. It also requires the state to create a targeted social media and television campaign to raise public awareness about laws regarding resisting arrest and provide accurate information about the public’s responsibilities during traffic stops and other interactions with police.
Nyamekye Daniel of The Center Square contributed to this report.