Hill-Evans applauds adoption of police reform bills in House Judiciary Committee
Rep. Carol Hill-Evans June 16, 2020 | 2:14 PM
HARRISBURG, June 16 – State Rep. Carol Hill-Evans, D-York, today applauded the adoption of two police reform bills by the PA House Judiciary Committee, H.B. 1841 and H.B. 1910.
“When we took the rostrum last week in Harrisburg, we were saying enough is enough,” Hill-Evans said, referring to a protest by PA Legislative Black Caucus members and other legislators last week that halted the House’s regular voting session. “Because we spoke up, change is happening. It pains me that it takes the death of so many innocents in order to enact change, but my hope is that their deaths will continue to inspire us to keep doing work that protects the people of the commonwealth. We keep hearing that these are examples of a ‘few bad apples’ in our police force. What people don’t seem to remember is the full saying, ‘a few bad apples spoil the barrel’. In our law enforcement, there is no room for error. Not when it results in the loss of innocent life.”
An amended, H.B. 1910 would require the training of police officers to identify and report suspected child abuse to also include a provision addressing the use of deadly force. A change to the bill that won support was to require the Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission to develop in-service training, including annual instruction on the use of force, de-escalation, and harm-reduction techniques and biennial instruction in community and cultural awareness.
House Bill 1841 would require law enforcement officers to be evaluated for PTSD after a lethal use-of-force incident and more information would need to be handed over during initial background investigations, before hiring a police officer candidate.
For more information, contact Hill-Evans’ office at (717) 848-9595.
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