STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. — A bill that would modernize police practices and training in the state of Georgia was produced early Thursday morning before lawmakers adjourned, a sponsor of the bill said.
The bill could address issues that have put police at odds with some communities.
Although police have what they call standard operating procedures, SB 329 could hold police accountable for standards that may actually vary now from department to department.
Go to a protest against the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, and you’ll hear its critics decry what they call the militarization of police and their absence of de-escalation skills.
Stockbridge Police Chief Frank Trammer thinks the best way to meet that criticism is to rethink and standardize police training and practices statewide.
"The fact that there are no uniform standards that agencies must comply with can obviously present some challenges, and it can be problematic," said Trammer, who helped write the bill that quietly dropped at the capitol this week.
It would create statewide standards and accreditation for police agencies – standards that he said may only informally exist now, such as limitation on neck restraints.
Three years ago in Minnesota, police applied a fatal neck restraint on an alleged shoplifter, George Floyd.
"In the state of Georgia, it’s high time we invested in training these agencies to do what's right," said state Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur), the bill sponsor. "Otherwise were going to continue to have the kind of situations that we’ve had from Brunswick up to Atlanta."
Brunswick is where law enforcement was slow to prosecute following the shooting death of a Black jogger, Ahmaud Arbrey. Atlanta is where the proposed public safety training site is now at the center of an ongoing political drama.
Jones said the statewide standards in his bill could slake many of those concerns.
"I totally hope so. I think we’re all critical of police at different times, until we need them," he told 11Alive News.
Jones expects his police standardization bill to get a lot of attention from lawmakers. Two of the bill’s cosponsors are Republicans – including the chairman of the senate public safety committee, Sen. John Albers (R-Roswell).