Following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, many people think there should be police reform across the nation. | Adobe Stock
Following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, many people think there should be police reform across the nation. | Adobe Stock
Sen. Peter J. Lucido (R-Shelby Township) joined The Guy Gordon Show on June 29 to discuss police reform legislation.
While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has issued her guidelines for acceptable reform, some believe that her guidelines go too far.
“Senate Bill 968 is in the Senate, I’ll be taking that up, and that bill completely bans choke hold pressure to the windpipe, exerting force on somebody’s windpipe when they breathe, unless it is to save the officer’s life -- which means if the officer’s life is in jeopardy, we have another rule in law that says you must fight deadly force with deadly force,” Lucido told the Guy Gordon Show.
Sen. Peter Lucido
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Lucido said that another ban in the works is one on "no-knock warrants."
“Other states are following this; that’s another bill that I’ve introduced,” Lucido said on the radio show.
Lucido explained that many officers were not knocking and announcing themselves before entering a building; they legally must, however, knock and announce themselves in order to execute a search warrant on a dwelling or business.
When officers fail to announce, individuals inside the building the police have entered may react too quickly and start firing in self-defense, not aware that they are firing at a law enforcement officer.
Lucido said that "duty to intervene" has been a massive oversight by many law enforcement officers. This was the case with George Floyd’s murder, where the other officers should have intervened and saved his life, rather than standing by as he was put in a choke hold.
“My opinion, that was a crime; it was criminal activity,” Lucido told Gordon. “Because he wasn’t supposed to exert — under their own rules — pressure on the windpipe. So a duty for an officer to intervene, and that bill is also being put in, so it kind of covers the gamut. There’s other things that she [Gov. Gretchen Whitmer] wanted done, but we need more of a discussion because -- let me say this once and once only -- not every officer is a bad officer.”
Lucido said that bad officers need to be weeded out and removed entirely from law enforcement.
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