In one of its final acts of the year, the House passed bipartisan legislation late Wednesday that would empower law enforcement agencies across the country to adopt de-escalation training when encountering individuals with mental health issues as part of an effort to reduce the number of officer-involved fatalities.
The bill passed 264-162 with Republican support and capped off a modest two-year effort by Congress to pass police reform legislation after the killing of George Floyd sparked global protests against police brutality.
The final passage of the bill comes months after the House approved a bipartisan package of public safety bills including similar legislation that would make investments in de-escalation training and mental health resources for officers. That package was never taken up in the Senate. "Whether it be Rodney King, or whether it be George Floyd or any of the number of incidents we've seen over the last 30 years: How police deal with force is at the heart of the discussion about policing," said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based think tank. "And what we have come to find out over the last five to eight years is that the training is outdated. It doesn't live up to current-day practices.
The goal is to take the training to as many of the nation's 18,000 law enforcement agencies as possible. But despite bipartisan support for the effort, some mental health advocates believe it will not resolve the root issue.
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