The Delaware House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a major police reform bill, which would require law enforcement agencies to publish internal investigations into the use-of-force and other substantiated allegations made against police officers.
The enactment of this bill, backed by the legislative Black Caucus, would mark a signature achievement for the General Assembly in the final days of the legislative calendar – even though it has been derided by advocates. It now heads to the Senate.
For years, lawmakers have unsuccessfully tried to reform one of Delaware’s most controversial laws: the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights. Delawareans, under this measure, cannot access information about police misconduct.
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The murder of George Floyd in 2020 renewed efforts to reform the bill of rights. But negotiations went nowhere.
This month, lawmakers introduced two police reform bills. HB 205 passed Thursday with bipartisan support of 39-1. Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton, a Newark Democrat, was the only lawmaker to vote no.
The second bill, HB 206, would create local police accountability boards and set uniform standards for police agencies across Delaware. It has yet to be voted on.
“LEOBOR hasn’t been touched for almost 50 years for 53 police departments,” said Rep. Franklin Cooke, a Wilmington Democrat and retired New Castle County Police Officer.
“It’s time to make a move,” he said. “And to this General Assembly, on both sides of the aisle, we’re making a move.”
What does the bill change and require?
The bill, sponsored by House Majority Whip Melissa Minor-Brown, requires the publication of a “detailed narrative” regarding investigations into:
- The discharge of a department-issued firearm, even if a person is not struck by bullets
- A sustained finding of sexual assault
- A sustained finding of dishonesty related to the reporting, investigation or prosecution of a crime; or to the reporting or investigation of misconduct by another law enforcement officer
- A sustained finding of domestic violence
These narratives, according to the bill, must be finished within 30 days of the completed investigation. An investigation must also be completed regardless of the officer’s employment status, meaning even if they resign, the investigation will be completed.
Complaints that are unsubstantiated will not be available to the public.
Police agencies will also be required to annually report the number of formal investigations undertaken and the number of complaints that were resolved without a formal investigation. In addition, they must report the number of formal investigations that resulted in a sustained finding of misconduct, an unsubstantiated finding “or any other disposition.”
This data will then be published on the Criminal Justice Council’s website for the public to access.
Additionally, this bill requires prosecutors to provide defense attorneys with all records, including those in a personnel or disciplinary file, related to sustained findings of misconduct.
ADVOCATES SPEAK OUT:The Delaware police reform bills have bipartisan support. Yet advocates feel left out
Why are advocates for police reform pushing back?
HB 205 was voted out of committee unanimously earlier this month, though not without police reform advocates voicing their concerns. Advocates, some of whom represented local chapters of the ACLU and NAACP, argued that without having access to claims that were found to be without merit, they might not be able to point to a pattern of misconduct by police.
Police leaders pushed back, saying publicizing claims against officers that were unsubstantiated would only serve to “shame officers publicly,” and cited instances in which people have made demonstrably false criminal complaints against officers simply because they didn’t like an interaction they had.
“To me,” Rep. Ruth Briggs King, a Republican representing Georgetown, said Thursday just before the vote, “this represents a good beginning and a true compromise.”
