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WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday imposing a range of “reforms” on law enforcement across the United States geared at appeasing the left-wing activists of Black Lives Matter (BLM).

May 25 marked the two-year anniversary of George Floyd, a Minneapolis criminal killed during an altercation with former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who in April 2021 was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for his death.

Floyd’s defense argued that he used appropriate force for the situation, and that Floyd’s death was actually due to a lethal quantity of fentanyl in his system; prosecutors argued that Chauvin used a lethal amount of excessive force. Regardless, the incident triggered a wave of BLM protests and riots across the country, as well as calls from the political left for a host of new limits on policing, up to and including the defunding of police departments.

The White House framed the new executive order with the anniversary of Floyd’s death and the “legacy of systemic racism in our criminal justice system and in our institutions more broadly,” claiming it will “advance effective, accountable policing and criminal justice practices that will build public trust and strengthen public safety.”

First, the order establishes a “national database of police misconduct,” including “convictions, terminations, de-certifications, civil judgments, resignations and retirements while under investigation for serious misconduct, and sustained complaints or records of disciplinary actions for serious misconduct,” with the data’s availability to the public to be determined later by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Next, the order “requires steps to improve the investigation and prosecution of criminal civil rights violations,” requires federal law enforcement agencies to “adopt measures to promote thorough investigation and preservation of evidence after incidents involving the use of deadly force or deaths in custody” and policies on the use of body cameras during arrests and searches.

It also forbids the use of “chokeholds and carotid [neck/head] restraints unless deadly force is authorized and restricts the use of no knock entries to a limited set of circumstances,” establishes new standards limiting the permissible use of force and “emphasiz[ing] de-escalation,” mandates annual training on “implicit bias and avoiding improper profiling based on the actual or perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, limited English proficiency, religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), or disability of individuals,” and more.

The new rules are “beyond a slap in the face” to police, a veteran NYPD officer told the New York Post. “It just goes to show you how far left Biden’s gone now. Law enforcement is a tough job and they’re making it a thousand times harder. This job is hard as hell and it’s even harder with everyone recording. Now you’ll [sic] saying if I’m fighting with somebody and put a little pressure on his back he could die and I’m going to jail? Let him go. Why would I want to arrest him?”

Regardless, the executive order is consistent with Biden’s pattern of playing to identity politics, as with his appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court on the basis of her race and sex, and anti-police sentiment, as with his during the 2020 presidential campaign endorsing police defunding and claiming that “systemic racism” is “in everything we do” as a society.

In fact, research shows that police are not disproportionately likely to use excessive lethal force against black suspects, and may actually be less likely out of fear of being accused of racism after the fact. In addition, the vast majority of police shootings of blacks since 2014 have occurred in cities controlled by Democrats.

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