Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith cosponsors law enforcement training and accountability reform bill

WASHINGTON, D.C., (WLBT) - U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) cosponsored a major reform package on Wednesday intended to improve community safety through police training reforms and greater law enforcement accountability.

Hyde-Smith signed as an original cosponsor of the JUSTICE Act, reform legislation introduced by Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Wednesday. She says that Senate leadership intends to bring the bill to the Senate floor for consideration next week.

“The JUSTICE Act begins to answer the growing outcry for all Americans to believe they will be treated equally under the law in their interactions with the police,” Hyde-Smith said.

“An overwhelming majority of law enforcement officers are dedicated to doing their jobs fairly and justly. It is, however, time to build public confidence in that truth through commonsense reforms founded on better training, accountability, and transparency,” she said. “These goals cannot be met by irresponsible demands to ‘defund the police.’”

The JUSTICE Act includes: law enforcement reforms, including incentives to ban chokeholds; programs to strengthen training methods and tactics, including de-escalation of force tactics; and strengthened reporting requirements, including best practices for the hiring, firing, suspension, and discipline. (Click to access a one-page summary and section-by-section analysis.)

The measure also incorporates the following bipartisan measures: Closing the Law Enforcement Consent Loophole Act, National Criminal Justice Commission Act, Justice for Victims of Lynching, Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys Act, and Reauthorization of COPS program.

Hyde-Smith last week also cosponsored S.Res.613, a resolution calling for justice for George Floyd and opposing calls to defund the police.