On Sunday, Senator Cory Booker told CNN’s Dana Bash that he definitely wanted to end qualified immunity for police officers in America, adding, “We have a crisis of policing in America.”
“Senator, is ending qualified immunity for individual officers a red line for you, or do you agree with what you just heard Congressman Clyburn say?” Bash asked.
“Well, what I agree with what he said is that we need to at some point get qualified immunity,” Booker answered. “It’s what I’m determined at this negotiating table to get. And these are labels that a lot of folks don’t know what they mean. This means that, in the United States of America, any profession that — where you violate in a serious way the civil rights of another American, should someone be shielded?”
“This is not about going after good officers,” he continued. “This is about when officers have breached the civil rights of another American citizen. And, to me, we need this to create real accountability. So, I’m at the negotiating table fighting for that. We have to have a nation where, when you do wrong — again, not the good officers, but when folks have done wrong, violated someone’s fundamental, constitutionally protected rights, that there is not a shield in the judicial system, but true accountability, where they are not above the law, but are held accountable by it.”
“I hear you that you’re fighting for that at the negotiating table right now. But is it possible that you’re willing to have less than in order to get the broader bill and fight that fight another day?” Bash reiterated.
“Again, I’m not negotiating this in public,” Booker replied. “I have said where my line is. We wrote a bill with Senator, now Vice President Harris in the Senate, along with our House allies, Karen Bass, Congressman Nadler, that said very clearly we want to eliminate qualified immunity. And that is where we’re starting clearly.”
He added later, “We have a crisis of policing in America.”
At the end of April, Detroit’s Police Chief, James Craig, ripped into the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and its intent to eliminate qualified immunity for law enforcement, snapping, “This will decimate policing as we know it. This is a veiled attempt, I think, at dismantling policing.”
Craig was interviewed by Newsmax’s Rachel Rollar, who asked about the Floyd bill, asking if it would be passed.
“You know, I’ve got to tell you where I have a real problem: the whole issue of qualified immunity,” Craig answered. “That is a deal-breaker. (GOP South Carolina Senator) Tim Scott, what he put on the table was appropriate; it was a balancing act. We know how important it is that police officers who engage in criminal misconduct should be held accountable. That would be the exemption. But when you talk about civil lawsuits, this will decimate policing as we know it. This is a veiled attempt, I think, at dismantling policing because here’s what I know, all the way from my seat down: who’s going to want to serve in law enforcement when there’s no protection. I’ve talked to my colleagues in other cities; look at what’s happening in New York right now; retirements and resignation rates have skyrocketed.”
“So this vocal minority is not speaking for people who live in vulnerable communities,” he commented. “That’s what the problem is today with everything that’s going on; they’re voiceless. These folks want good, effective, constitutional policing. The vast majority of the men and women who serve each and every day do it right, and the profession shouldn’t be painted with a broad brush.”
He concluded, “But if they remove qualified immunity, there’s going to be a mass exodus and policing will look like it looks now. They’re already trying to take traffic stops away. Knee-jerk reactions. So, ‘let’s not stop anybody anymore.’ The mayor of Brooklyn Center said, ‘Well, if they must stop someone let’s use police officers that are not armed.’ There’s no such thing as a ‘routine traffic stop.’”
Detroit's Police Chief reacts to what he's seeing happen to law enforcement departments across the country: https://t.co/XtIrKtj7G7
— Newsmax (@newsmax) April 28, 2021