Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday that he will seek legislative approval to limit the use part-time police officers and mandate the reporting of officers who are fired for excessive force or dishonesty to a statewide database, as a result of a task force’s look into policing in Arkansas.
The task force, established by Hutchinson this summer in the wake of protests over the policing killing of George Floyd, unveiled its final report Thursday with a set of 27 policy recommendations.
Several of the recommendations will require legislative approval, Hutchinson said.
Others, such as doubling the required annual bias training for police officer from two to four hours, can be done through executive action, Hutchinson said.
The task force included members of law enforcement agencies from around the state, representatives from advocacy groups such as the Urban League and El Centro Hispano, as well as community activists who engaged in protests around the state following Floyd’s death.
Task Force Chair Fred Witherspoon, the deputy director of the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy, said the report ultimately did not address a proposed ban on police chokeholds, explaining that such maneuvers are not taught at the academy and are “not something we support.”
Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died in Minneapolis this May after a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes while placing him under arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill.
Jimmy Warren, an activist from Conway appointed to the task force, said he felt the group’s discussions were respectful, even as some of the activists' concerns about chokeholds and reporting requirements were not included in the final report.
“There was a lot of agreeing to disagree,” Warren said. “While everything wasn’t included in the recommendations, some things we made that didn’t make it, I do think that everyone’s voice on the task force got heard.”
Lawmakers will meet beginning in January for the 2021 legislative session, at which point they can consider some of the task force’s recommendations.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
EARLIER:
The Task Force to Advance the State of Law Enforcement in Arkansas is scheduled to submit a final report with recommendations for the next legislative session to Gov. Asa Hutchinson at 1 p.m.
Hutchinson announced the task force on June 9 in the aftermath of nationwide protests calling for racial justice after the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died under the knee of a white police officer.
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