JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — It’s been more than three weeks since the Missouri legislature gaveled to close the 2020 session in the Missouri State Capitol. But now, there could be a reason for state lawmakers to reconvene.
The Missouri Legislative Black Caucus sent a letter to Governor Mike Parson asking for a special session of the General Assembly.
They want to talk about police reform.
“I ask that you call a special session of the Missouri General Assembly to address the need for legislative reform of the current model of policing, especially the use of excessive force by police against minorities,” Representative Steven Roberts wrote in his letter to the governor. Rep. Roberts is the chairman of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus and represents a portion of the City of St. Louis.
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Roberts cited data released last May by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt that found African American drivers were 94.6% more likely to be pulled over by Missouri police than white drivers in 2019.
He further stressed that if the General Assembly can come together for a special session on a sales tax on car purchases, as it did in 2019, then lawmakers can come together to discuss police reform.
“If sales tax on car purchases is worthy of a special session, then certainly the anguish, injustice, and discrimination felt by hundreds of thousands of Missourians — and the protections our proposed legislative priorities would afford them — are worthy of so much more,” Rep. Roberts said.
The Missouri Legislative Black Caucus outlined three problems they would like new legislation to address. The following is what they wrote in their letter to the governor:
- Constitutional Rights and Qualified Immunity – we seek to modify existing laws which will provide citizens the opportunity for redress when a police officer violates their constitutional rights;
- Chokeholds or placing the knee or body weight on the head or neck of a suspect – we seek to ban the use of all chokeholds and carotid holds as well as the practice of placing the knee or body weight on the neck or head of a suspect, which are unduly excessive and brutal tactics that can lead to unnecessary and serious injury or death during routine arrests. We also seek the immediate dismissal and formal investigation of any officer who fails to comply with this mandate; and
- Police accountability – we seek to establish a legal duty for police officers to report and intervene when they are witness to excessive force used by a fellow officer and add that an omission of reporting such instances will be considered an act of complicity.
“These issues are in-line with initiatives happening at a federal level and a state level all across the country. We must not allow Missouri to be left behind. The cost to our citizens, paid in their freedom and with their lives, is all-too-great,” Roberts wrote.
The Missouri Legislative Black Caucus sent the letter to the governor on Friday, June 19, commonly known as Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S.
You can read the full letter below.
