Well, That's A First

 

Yesterday, Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at police reform. Per his tweet, pictured above, the EO will "increase accountability, ban chokeholds, restrict no-knock entries, and more for federal law enforcement officers — and it incentivizes state and local officers to do the same."

This is an excellent move and possibly the first time I have agreed with the potato. 

I can hear the wailing from the boot-licking right: "Oh, that's terrible! Stop the criminals! etc." But here are the facts. Police organizations have had years to fix these problems, yet they refuse to do so. 

Chokes, when properly applied, are one of the safest martial arts moves that exists. However, cops kill people with poorly applied chokeholds every year. We have had Gracie Jiu-Jitsu for 30 years... they have had more than enough chances to learn the proper technique. Heck, Rener Gracie just recently broke through red tape to make GJJ available for POST training. It is probably too little, too late. For years, cops REFUSED to learn the proper applications. Now, they begin to reap the rewards of their hubris. 

No-Knock warrants have their place, but for years have been abused. Couple that with Qualified Immunity, and the situation is ripe for total abuse. Add to the mix the fact that in many instances, police perform no-knock entry into the wrong addresses! Again, the police organizations have had a LONG time to fix this, and have shown absolutely no desire to do the right thing. 

Increased accountability - we can only hope that this rolls back some of the Qualified Immunity that police misuse to literally get away with murder (and many other crimes). Again, police have had many years to fix this problem, but they have outright REFUSED to do so. 

More is needed - but this is definitely a step in the right direction.