As a special session approaches later this month, Senate Democrats are preparing their proposal to reform police agencies across Virginia.
Democrats in the state Senate are ready to move forward with a broad package of reform efforts aimed at policing, banning no-knock warrants and chokeholds, requiring training for de-escalation and prohibiting officers from shooting at moving vehicles or having sex with inmates.
Senator Scott Surovell, a Democrat from Fairfax County, says, “it’s going to enhance law enforcement’s ability to root out bad apples. It’s going to improve their ability to hire officers that are good people and good officers and don’t have a history of disciplinary problems or dishonesty. And it will help standardize their training.”
Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard says police agencies are in favor of some of the proposals aimed at decertifying bad cops or giving police departments more access to work histories of officers they might hire. But, she says, things like eliminating no-knock warrants and requiring warrants to be served in the daytime will see opposition in Richmond.
“What’s important to me as a police chief is that we find reform that’s going to make meaningful change. Some of the things that they are suggesting are not meaningful," DeBoard explains. "Some are reckless, and some are going to create significantly greater safety concerns for the very communities that they are enlisting us to protect.”
One issue that Senate Democrats are not touching, though, is qualified immunity — shielding government officials for being held liable for constitutional violations. That’s a reform that’s not in the bill Senate Democrats released this week.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
