[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 19 (Monday, January 30, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S139-S140]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             POLICE REFORMS

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, as chairman of the Senate Committee on 
the Judiciary, I am responsible for legislation in the Senate relative 
to law enforcement and criminal justice. It is an awesome 
responsibility, and I think about it quite a bit because the first 
thing all of us want is the safety of our families and our communities. 
It is the first question asked: How safe is that area of Chicago? How 
safe is that part of Springfield? It is a reality, and it is a natural 
reaction.
  I have had, during the course of my congressional career, the 
opportunity to meet many of the men and women in law enforcement. Let 
me tell you, there are some outstanding people who literally get up in 
the morning and put on that badge and risk their lives. They go out for 
just a routine traffic stop, and they could end up dead. That is the 
reality of police work in a dangerous world, particularly in a world 
awash with guns, as we are in the United States.
  Having said that, acknowledging that reality, I also know that there 
are cops who are doing terrible things. That was brought home to 
America vividly over the last several days. You see, videotapes and DNA 
evidence have changed our conversation about law enforcement and 
justice. We now know just what happened--not an account of what 
happened; we know what happened. We see it on videotapes over and over 
and over again. And we know sometimes that people who have been found 
guilty of crimes and are serving long sentences--it turns out the DNA 
evidence proves it couldn't possibly have been them who were 
responsible. It is a gross miscarriage of justice for the person who is 
incarcerated--and even worse, the fact that the person who is culpable, 
blamable, who should be prosecuted, may somewhere be on the loose. 
Videotape and DNA have changed it.
  Many Americans are struggling with feelings of grief and disbelief 
after they watched the videotapes of Tyre Nichols being beaten to death 
by a group of Memphis police officers.
  Mr. Nichols, a 29-year-old father of a young son, worked the second 
shift at a FedEx facility with his stepfather. He loved skateboarding 
and photography. He loved his mother so much, he had her name tattooed 
on his arm. He had no criminal record. One friend told a reporter Mr. 
Nichols was even thinking about being a police officer to try to make 
the system better from the inside.
  The videotapes of the deadly assault on Mr. Nichols by Memphis police 
officers on January 7 are horrific and sickening. They show at least 
five officers attacking Mr. Nichols with their fists, boots, batons, 
Tasers, and pepper spray, while yelling contradictory orders to him. 
They continued pummeling Mr. Nichols even as he screamed in pain, 
begged them to stop, and called out for his mother. One officer kicked 
him in the head so hard that the officer was limping afterwards.
  When the beating was over, another officer propped an apparently 
unconscious Tyre Nichols up against the side of the squad car while the 
others laughed, fist-bumped, and tried to justify their awful behavior.
  It took 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, even longer for 
medical aid to be rendered. Tyre Nichols died 3 days later in a Memphis 
hospital. An independent autopsy revealed he had ``suffered extensive 
bleeding caused by a severe beating.''
  The killing of Tyre Nichols follows years of devastating tragedies 
and needless loss. Who can ever forget George Floyd? When I saw the 
videotape of what happened to him and saw that policeman with his knee 
on his neck stare straight at the camera--I will never forget that. Or 
Breonna Taylor, shot in her apartment.
  In my own home State of Illinois, Laquan McDonald. A videotape that 
was held back from the public for over a year finally was brought to 
light, and people saw that he was shot in the back repeatedly, over and 
over again. There are so many others. For George Floyd, he was murdered 
as he lay on a curb in Minneapolis. Tyre Nichols was chased down and 
beaten to death.
  Black Americans in particular are forced to live through trauma with 
every new incident of police violence.
  I applaud the Shelby County district attorney for moving swiftly in 
seeking the indictment of the five police officers. A sixth officer 
connected to the incident was suspended today.
  I agree with the attorney for Mr. Nichols' family, Ben Crump, that 
the response by prosecutors could be a ``blueprint'' for how such cases 
should be handled in the future if, inevitably, there are such cases.
  We shouldn't wait for months to bring charges. There is no excuse for 
delayed justice when the heinous acts occur and the facts are as clear 
as the videotape.
  I also want to extend my deepest condolences to Mr. Nichols' family, 
especially his mom and his stepfather, who have responded with dignity 
and grace to this unimaginable ordeal.
  Before the videotapes were released, they called repeatedly for 
protests to be peaceful. I would like to think that I would have the 
strength to do that, having just lost my son in those circumstances, 
but the Nichols family did, and throughout our Nation, almost without 
exception, their wishes have been respected.
  But prosecutions and peaceful protests cannot be the only response to 
this tragedy. Americans--especially Black Americans--are exhausted by 
the injustice of officers who abuse their authority. They are tired of 
the systemic failures that can lead to a young man being beaten to 
death after a questionable traffic stop.
  As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I am committed to working 
with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to finally confront these 
problems with meaningful legislation.
  We need to have an honest conversation with law enforcement officers 
about screening, training, inherent bias, use of force, and 
consequences for unjust actions.
  We need to prohibit deadly and dishonorable police misconduct. We 
must recruit and train the next generation of law enforcement to 
protect and serve everyone in America: Black, White, Brown, and 
everything in between.
  We have made some very modest progress. Last December, Congress 
enacted and the President signed a bill on

[[Page S140]]

law enforcement deescalation training. It provides for grants and 
training for law enforcement deescalation tactics. It is not enough. We 
must do more.
  In the last Congress, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey led an effort 
to build bipartisan support for policing reform legislation that 
national police groups and civil rights advocates could endorse. He 
worked with Tim Scott, a Republican Senator from South Carolina.
  They invited me and Senator Lindsey Graham into their deliberations. 
They were close to making some progress toward our goals, but even if 
you look at their goals, which I believe were good, they are not 
enough. Simply to say we are going to ban choke holds or we are going 
to deal with warrantless searches in a different way doesn't get to the 
heart of the issue. What is in the mind of these policemen when they 
are executing their job, doing their duty? Is it the right way to 
approach things?
  These efforts must continue now anew. We owe it to all of the 
families who have lost loved ones in these horrible acts of brutality 
and to the families who fear that their loved ones could be next to 
pass a law that will help ensure justice and accountability in our 
policing system.
  The vast majority of law enforcement officers are appalled and 
angered by the deaths of Mr. Nichols and others. They deserve our 
thanks, and I believe they will support bipartisan efforts to prevent 
such abuses and punish those who commit them.
  As I mentioned, Tyre Nichols loved photography. He loved 
photographing the world as he saw it. One of his favorite images--which 
appears again and again in his photos--was the image of a bridge. It is 
time for Members of the Senate to bridge our differences and pass 
policing reform so that Tyre Nichols' death will not have been in vain.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.

                          ____________________