In an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD) was deactivated at the beginning of his term.
The shutdown of NLEAD on Jan. 20 resulted from Trump’s promise to reverse former President Joe Biden’s policies. The NLEAD was one of 19 executive orders Biden signed to promote police reform.
As reported by the NLEAD website, agencies were able to research key factors in a police officer’s career such as criminal convictions, resignations while under investigation and civil judgments.
While agencies can still refer to the National Certification Index, or NDI to check records across states, agencies will no longer be able to do background checks for their employees because of the order.
One of the nearly 100 Biden-era executive orders that have been reversed includes the “Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices To Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety.”
The executive order was signed on May 25, 2022, off the heels of the national Black Lives Matter protests condemning the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
During this time, police accountability became a trending topic online with “Why was George Floyd arrested,” ranking as one of the most searched questions on Google during 2020.
“When you are given a specific amount of power over citizens, there should be some sort of system in place to make sure you have the stability to take adequate care of yourself and citizens,” freshman history major Hunter Bridgett said.
During a time of public discourse surrounding police brutality, the concept of “wandering cops,” which the NLEAD helped address, became a part of the national discussion.
“Wandering Officers” or ‘wandering cops’ were defined by Duke Law School professor Ben Grunwald and University of Chicago law professor John Rappaport as officers who frequently hopped between agencies after being fired or facing misconduct consequences from their previous department.
While there is no set amount of data referencing how often ‘wandering cops’ occur, these officers risk posing danger to society due to them continuing their problematic behavior via different agencies when those agencies are unaware of their troublesome history, according to the study.
“I think this decision is part of an extensive list of orders to put the status quo back in place after we’ve seen so much progress,” Bridgett said.
According to the NIH and the Washington Post, Black people have made up around 26 percent of police killings, and 36 percent of police killings where the victim was unarmed.
Chauvin had a history of violence while on the scene.
Some believe that removing NLEAD will contribute to sour relations between Black people and law enforcement. According to the NIH, only 49 percent of Black people have trust in police officers.
Freshman political science major and California native, Taino Moreno said, “Having these databases isn’t meant to create anything other than more transparency, so taking away this option is just gonna further generate more friction between the Black community and law enforcement.”
Copy edited by Aniyah Genama
