Editorial: City leaders -- End no-knock warrants, ban police neck holds now

This is no time for government paralysis by analysis. It is time for North Carolina’s mayors and municipal leaders to send a message to their communities by taking immediate action.

North Carolina’s municipal leaders need to act now and order their police forces to end the use of no-knock warrants and prohibit all neck holds.

“The protestors are making a point. And most of them are making a smart, sensible point. But you have to add the positive reform agenda that every voice calls for so the government, the politicians know what to do. And there is a positive reform agenda here. There should be a national ban on excessive force by police officers. There should be a national ban on chokeholds.”

These actions would mark a start. More is needed. And it doesn’t require more study. It’s already been done. Cuomo also called for “independent investigations of police abuse.”  Even that has been done.

“The best available evidence reflects high rates of uses of force nationally, with increased likelihood of police use of force against people of color, people with disabilities, LGBT people, people with mental health concerns, people with low incomes, and those at the intersection of these communities. Lack of sufficient training—and funding for training—leaves officers and the public at risk. Repeated and highly publicized incidents of police use of force against persons of color and people with disabilities, combined with a lack of accurate data, lack of transparency about policies and practices in place governing use of force, and lack of accountability for noncompliance foster a perception that police use of force in communities of color and the disability community is unchecked, unlawful, and unsafe.”

These are words that might have been spoken in the last week. They weren’t.

But a quick scan, or an in-depth review, shows the report was prescient. It could have been researched and written in the last month.

What that report shows – there’s nothing new going on. There’s nothing that needs to be further examined. The evidence is plain and undeniable.

Whether at the federal level, state or local, it is time to act. The 2018 report offers some solid proposals. For starters:

Taking these steps would go a long way to providing the transparency and accountability that is so lacking today, resulting in the damaging lack of credibility that stokes fear and anger among minorities toward law enforcement.

There is plenty more to do. But federal and state leaders can embrace some of these proposals now, it would signal that they are serious about changing the status quo.

There’s no time like the present to get started.