TO: Nick Carroll, News Editor, Record Journal Weeklies
FROM: Lou Arata
DATE: July 28, 2020
RE: False Narratives
There are so many false narratives floating around these days. Whatever side of debate you happen to be on, you can find an expert to support your position.
I argue what is essential today is a common sense approach to politics.
The State’s latest knee-jerk legislation is the “Police Accountability” Legislation (HB 6004). At its core is the ending of qualified immunity for police officers. I believe this is bad for our communities. If passed, how safe will you actually be if police response times increase?
While HB 6004 does contain some positive components, such as establishing police department accreditation standards and applies FOI provisions to union contracts and arbitration awards, the negative take-aways are far more numerous.
There are funding problems. Who pays for all the new mandated accreditation costs, increased costs for health evaluations and drug testing, reimbursement for must-have camera equipment and data storage?
Not surprising, this bill was rammed through without a normal hearing process. No proper notice requirements. No thorough scrutiny. Committee leadership severely limited time allotted for discussion and questions. There’s vague language- what exactly is “…conduct that undermines public confidence.” It’s also unclear just how an officer is to intervene if witnessing excessive force.
Besides the obvious difficulty municipalities will face recruiting and keeping officers, this bill doesn’t give the Police Accountability Taskforce the opportunity to review the issues with this bill. Why no proper review?
Lastly, there are questions about the constitutionality of the new Inspector General position. Our state constitution vests investigation and prosecution of criminal cases with the Division of Criminal Justice, the Chief State’s Attorney and the individual State’s Attorney offices. Do we need more bureaucracy?
Common sense is, why ram this through? Is passing any bill immediately, good for incumbent politicians running for reelection in the fall?