US Justice Department eliminates federal law enforcement accountability database News
VOA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
US Justice Department eliminates federal law enforcement accountability database

The US Department of Justice on Friday shut down its national database for reporting misconduct incidents of federal law enforcement officers. In an update on its website, the Department stated that user agencies can no longer add data to the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD), giving no reason for the closure.

The decision came after President Donald Trump rescinded 78 executive orders from the Biden Administration, particularly Executive Order 14074, in January. The order, signed by President Biden two years after the murder of George Floyd, in addition to creating a national database on the misconduct of federal law enforcement officers, required federal agencies to encourage de-escalation techniques and ban chokeholds and other violent tactics.

The NLEAD was not a public database. Rather, it was used by law enforcement agencies to search for information on whether their officers had a history of abuse or agency laws and rules violations.

However, the idea of creating an accountability database for law enforcement officers is not new. In 2020, just a month after Floyd’s death, President Trump signed Executive Order 12939. Named “Safe Policing for Safe Communities,” the order stated that while law enforcement officers are essential to the protection of all Americans, some officers have misused their authority, particularly against African American communities.

Section 3 of the order mandated the Attorney General to create a database that would allow federal, state, local, and tribal enforcement agencies to share information on instances of excessive use of force.

The database is no longer accessible upon internet search.

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Read US v. Wong Kim Ark and learn more about the Chinese Exclusion Act.

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