Pa. lawmakers begin passing police reform bills

By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
The state House of Representatives made moves Wednesday to give police departments information about an applicant’s disciplinary past and to train officers on how to interact with people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
The state Senate = unanimously passed two pieces of police reform legislation Wednesday.
All of the votes were unanimous in the Republican-controlled chambers, although all four of the bills passed Wednesday still require approval from the other chamber before going to the desk of Gov. Tom Wolf.
The House unanimously passed House Bill 1910 — a police training bill that was amended to mandate in-service training on the use of force, de-escalation techniques, cultural awareness and bias and trauma-informed care, and H.B.1841 – a bill expanding background checks for police and other law enforcement officers.
The House voted after an emotional debate to require thorough background checks and to mandate that an applicant’s former department must provide information on the officer’s job history, including disciplinary actions.
One of the bills directs the Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission to maintain an electronic database with details about why officers have left employment. If the measure is passed by the Senate and signed by Gov. Tom Wolf, policing agencies would have to check the database before hiring an officer.
The other House measure would require police to be trained in how to recognize and report child abuse, as well as how to treat people from various racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds. There would also be annual training on the use of force and conflict de-escalation. Officers would be trained every two years on cultural awareness and implicit bias.
Pennsylvania lawmakers are not considering legislation to make police department records of officer discipline accessible to the public, even as New York and New Jersey have moved in recent days to join other states that do so. The hiring bill passed by the House says explicitly the records are not subject to the state’s Right-to-Know Law.
State Rep. Austin Davis, D-McKeesport, said the House measures are important to him, his constituents in the Mon Valley “and Black and brown communities across the commonwealth,” but thinks there is more progress to be made in terms of police reform.
“This is merely a strong first step to reforming our policing practices here in the commonwealth,” Davis said. “This is a show of force that slowly reaffirms that all men are created equal, but there is still a significant amount of work that needs to be done.
“These bills alone will show those marching, protesting and pleading for change that their voices have been heard. However, until we go further and address issues like use of force, we will not begin to see the systemic change that we want to see as a society.”

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