The American Civil Liberties Union met with the Judicial Department in Washington DC to discuss the plans to track the use of force by police officers all around the United States. In order to fix a broken system you must know what is going on within that system. But the problem seems to be that no one knows exactly what is going on.
“I can’t believe two years into this crisis that we are still having conversations about data,” said Ms. Kanya Bennett, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. The FBI seems to be having trouble gathering information about excessive use of force in law enforcement because according to the director of the FBI, James B. Comey, it has been “embarrassing” that the news media is producing better data about such an important issue. What is more important than data collecting is the having a plan implement to ensure change with law-enforcement encounters with civilians. How can we ensure be certain that law enforcement officials are working within the realm of the law?
Along with collecting better data, they want to keep a record of all police encounters whether they are deadly or not. They will implement better training for law enforcement officials on all levels including FBI officials. They plan to improve police-community relationships. These are all great ideas but how will they be implemented?
It shouldn’t take two years to take use of force by police so what is the hold up? Developing transparency will help in the U.S. but the conversations should focus on how because it seems as though it’s just a bunch of talk at this point.