Attorney General William Barr believes police chokeholds should be banned in compliance with a police reform bill being pushed by House Democrats.
“I think we should ban chokeholds, lateral chokeholds … unless police officers are confronted with potentially lethal force,” Barr said Monday on Fox News’s Special Report with Bret Baier.
Following the death of George Floyd in police custody, Democrats have led an effort to reform policing in the United States. Their bill, unveiled Monday and dubbed the “Justice in Policing Act,” would ban chokeholds and other forms of neck restraints similar to the one used on Floyd. It also includes a ban on no-knock warrants in drug cases after such an incident left Breonna Taylor, a black woman, dead in March.
Barr said he hasn’t looked at the proposal itself but believes there needs to be widespread federal participation to set better standards for police.
“I think there is a general agreement among police agencies that we need clearer standards,” Barr said. “We have to make sure those standards are trained to, and we have to make sure there are systems in place that hold officers accountable. I think there is universal agreement on that.”
The attorney general also said there’s a balance to be made in treating police fairly when they’re accused of wrongdoing and holding those who have done wrong accountable.
“Police is not like sitting in an office,” Barr said. “We put these individuals into highly charged, dangerous situations where their own life is at stake. Their adrenaline is pumping and so forth, and we have to make sure we treat them fairly in those kinds of circumstances.”
Protests around the world have popped up in response to Floyd’s death, focusing on ending systemic racism and police brutality. Police reform has been the central focus of several municipalities following his death.
