WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump was to sign an executive order yesterday that will seek to improve how police officers treat African Americans and others by improving credentialing, training and mental health resources, administration officials said.
The order comes after Mr Trump has struck a strict "law and order" tone in his response to protests around the country sparked by the death of unarmed African American George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.
Mr Trump has faced criticism from Democrats for his response and some allies are concerned that his response to the protests and handling of the coronavirus pandemic are hurting his and other Republican leaders' chances of re-election in November.
Senior administration officials said the order would aim to incentivise police departments to improve by tying federal approval of discretionary grants to good policing practices.
The order would encourage police departments to employ the latest standards for use of force; improve information sharing so that officers with shoddy records are not hired without their backgrounds being known, and add social workers to law enforcement responses to non-violent cases involving drug addiction and homelessness, officials said.
"We are going to be talking about things that we have been watching and seeing for the last month and we're going to have some solutions," Mr Trump told reporters on Monday.
Law enforcement officials and families of people who have been killed by police were expected to be part of the event where Mr Trump was to sign the order.
Lawmakers are also working on legislative responses to the calls for police reform. "Certainly we can add on to what we do by the work that is being done in the House and in the Senate," Mr Trump said.
Some activists have called for removing funding from police departments. Leading Democrats and Democratic presidential no-minee Joe Biden have not embraced those calls, but Republicans have sought to tie them to the proposals to provide a contrast to Mr Trump's rhetoric.
"We are not looking to defund the police. We're looking to invest more and incentivise best practices," one administration official said when describing the order that was to be signed.
Mr Trump also said the shooting by police of a black man in Atlanta was very disturbing.
An Atlanta police officer was fired and the police chief resigned after the killing of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks on Friday night.
REUTERS
