ACLU Responds to Senate Reintroduction of George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2024, Calls on Congress to Address Police Brutality

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Raphael Warnock (D- GA), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) reintroduced the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2024. Four years after the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, at the hands of a white police officer, the United States Senate has yet to hold a vote on this bill despite bipartisan passage in the U.S. House of Representatives. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would seek to address racial profiling and the excessive use of force that so often results in deadly police encounters.

“Today’s reintroduction signals a commitment by some senators and those in leadership to address the crisis of police violence in this country. Everyone deserves to be kept safe, especially from police brutality,” said Cynthia W. Roseberry, director of policy and government affairs at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Justice Division. “Congress must go further to provide strong federal intervention that protects the rights of individuals against the often unchecked power of the police. Nearly four years since George Floyd’s murder, systemic racism and disproportionate use of lethal force continue to plague America’s approach to policing. The recent killing of Sonya Massey in her home is a painful reminder that the killing of Black people in America continues unabated, and that national change is long overdue.”

Police killed at least 1,247 people in 2023, more than any previous year on record. So far this year, there have only been 10 days where police did not kill someone. Black and Brown individuals, LGBTQ+ individuals, and individuals with disabilities are still more likely to be killed or harmed by police in America.

Louisiana just passed an unconstitutional law banning filming of the police at 25 feet if ordered to step back so members of the public and journalists cannot record chokeholds, beatings, or capture badge numbers to file complaints.

“No one should be above the law, including police,” said Roseberry. “The court-created doctrine of qualified immunity continues to protect officers who engage in the most egregious conduct by preventing their victims from holding officials liable for preventable injuries and deaths. Officers who are under internal investigation or who have been fired from law enforcement jobs are still able to hide behind a veil of secrecy and seek employment as police officers in other jurisdictions. A law creating a publicly available registry of police misconduct is essential to prevent dangerous officers from evading accountability.”

One provision of the George Floyd Act would limit the transfer of equipment used on battlefields from the Pentagon to local police departments, and limit the use of biometric and facial recognition technology. In response to a lawsuit by the ACLU on behalf of Robert Williams, a Black man who was wrongfully arrested after the Detroit Police Department used incorrect results from facial recognition technology — the city of Detroit recently enacted the nation’s strongest police department policy on facial recognition technology.

“Federal investments that support the economic, healthcare, education, and housing needs of communities will result in safer communities. Police are not equipped to answer every emergency call," said Roseberry. "Congress should invest in models that ensure communities are able to respond to crisis situations in the right way, and enact long-overdue policing legislation. The ACLU calls on Congress to act swiftly to guarantee the civil rights, civil liberties, and safety of all of us.”