Police reforms included in the Breonna Taylor settlement

Latest in a series of posts responding to the Jacob Blake shooting

Louisville just settled the wrongful death civil suit with the family of Breonna Taylor for a record amount of money, but the settlement was not entirely about money. The Taylor family wanted police reforms. Since we hope that locally we will shortly be publicly discussing possible reforms and new systems of public safety, we are more interested in those “other” terms of the settlement. Here on Gadfly we’ve been trying to open our minds to all good ideas and the pros and cons about them.

What do you think of these reforms negotiated as part of the Taylor settlement?

“These are all the police reforms included in the Breonna Taylor civil suit settlement.” WLKY TV, September 15, 2020.

Community related

  • a housing credit program to encourage officers to live within the community
  • adding social workers
  • encouraging volunteering with community organizations while on duty

Search warrants

  • new request procedures
  • require EMS presence for forced entry warrants

Accountability

  • new procedures when money is seized
  • an early warning system to flag officers with disciplinary problems
  • random drug testing
  • new policy on records in an officer’s personnel file
  • new policy on cases where officer leaves the department before a personnel investigation is complete

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