© 2024 WFAE
90.7 Charlotte 93.7 Southern Pines 90.3 Hickory 106.1 Laurinburg
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Charlotte Talks Politics: New Calls For Police Reform. Will Anything Change?

David Boraks / WFAE

Monday, June 8, 2020

Police reform has been bandied about for years, and it's back at the forefront because of the killing of George Floyd. What would real reform look like? Is there political will to get it done?

Democrats in Washington are working on police reform measures, and Joe Biden says it would be an immediate priority if elected president. By contrast, the Trump administration has spent years rolling back Obama-era reforms.

At the local level, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police initiated use-of-force policy changes last fall, and in response to the George Floyd death, the department has made another change: requiring officers to intervene if they see excessive force or another officer’s failure to de-escalate a situation.

Will the nationwide protests lead to meaningful change?

GUESTS

Seth Stoughton, University of South Carolina School of Law, associate professor of law; co-author of "Evaluating Police Uses of Force" (@PoliceLawProf)

Robert Dawkins, SAFE Coalition NC, coalition organizer (@SAFECoalitionNC)

Stay Connected
A veteran of Charlotte radio news, Chris joined the "Charlotte Talks" staff in January 2016, but has been listening to WFAE since discovering the station as a high schooler.