Biden Bits: “A Measure of What’s Necessary”…

It’s Tuesday…

ONLY 5 MORE DAYS & 6 SLEEPS UNTIL CHRISTMAS! 🌟🎄🎅

👇👇 Visit our website to see the LIVE countdown
🕒 https://t.co/08kJVAWqc2 🎄🎅 https://t.co/BXRhVMt7NY pic.twitter.com/qYuUmfGgGj

— Your Christmas Countdown (@christmas_clock) December 19, 2023

President Biden’s public schedule for 12/19/2023:

8:00 AM	Out-of-Town Pool Call Time Biden Residence, Wilmington, DE Out-of-Town Pool
8:30 AM Presidential Daily Brief	The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing Biden Residence, Wilmington, DE Closed Press
8:45 AM	In-Town Pool Call Time​ The White House In-Town Pool​
9:40 AM Left New Castle, Delaware	The President departs New Castle, Delaware en route to the White House Biden Residence, Wilmington, DE Out-of-Town Pool
10:30 AMArrived at the White House	The President arrives at the White House South Lawn Open Press
10:40 AM Left the White House	The President departs the White House en route to the National Cathedral, Washington DC North Grounds In-Town Travel Pool
11:00 AM Remarks	The President delivers remarks at a memorial service for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor National Cathedral In-Town Travel Pool
12:45 PM Leaves the National Cathedral	The President departs en route to the White House National Cathedral In-Town Travel Pool
12:55 PM Arrives at the White House	The President arrives at the White House North Grounds In-Town Travel Pool
1:30 PM Press Briefing	Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
3:40 PM Leaves the White House	The President departs the White House en route to a campaign reception in Bethesda, Maryland North Grounds In-Town Travel Pool
5:00 PM Campaign Event	The President participates in a campaign reception Bethesda, MD Restricted In-Town Travel Pool
5:45 PMOfficial Schedule	The President departs en route to the White House Bethesda, MD In-Town Travel Pool
6:05 PMOfficial Schedule	The President arrives at the White House North Grounds In-Town Travel Pool

President Biden Delivers Remarks at a Memorial Service for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor @11:00 a.m. D.C., time:

Other live feeds:

WATCH: Funeral held for Sandra Day O’Connor; Washington Post:

Watch Live: Late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor honored at funeral service | CBS News:

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and John Kirby @1:30 p.m. D.C., time:

President Biden did not tweet on Monday…

National Law Enforcement Accountability Database Tweet

From Tuesday…

My Administration launched the first National Law Enforcement Accountability Database so federal law enforcement misconduct records will be available to agencies considering hiring them.

It's a promise kept. And a measure of what's necessary to begin to heal our nation's soul.

— President Biden (@POTUS) December 19, 2023

From the Department of Justice…

12/18/2023:

Justice Department Launches National Law Enforcement Accountability Database:

As directed by Executive Order 14074, Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety, the Justice Department today launched the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD), a centralized repository of official records documenting instances of misconduct as well as commendations and awards for federal law enforcement officers. The NLEAD is accessible only to authorized users to help determine suitability and eligibility of candidates for law enforcement positions. As required by the Executive Order, on an annual basis, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) will publish a public report containing aggregated and anonymized data to maintain transparency and accountability.

“No law enforcement agency — including the Justice Department — can effectively do its work without the trust of the public,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This database will give our law enforcement agencies an important new tool for vetting and hiring officers and agents that will help strengthen our efforts to build and retain that trust.”

“This database will make policing safer and more effective by strengthening trust between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “The Justice Department and law enforcement agencies throughout the federal government are committed to ensuring that the database strengthens hiring practices while protecting the safety, due process rights, and privacy of law enforcement officers.”

“The NLEAD will help ensure that federal hiring officials have the most accurate and important information when making hiring decisions,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. “This database, along with our work to expand access to this information at the state and local level, is a significant step forward in increasing transparency and accountability, and in enhancing police-community trust.”

The NLEAD connects all federal law enforcement agencies under one accountability infrastructure. With the NLEAD, law enforcement agency hiring personnel will have more accurate and complete information about misconduct in a job candidate’s past. Agencies can then make more informed hiring decisions, which enhances both accountability and public safety. 

As of today, the database includes records for the Department’s law enforcement officers. Pursuant to the Executive Order, by Feb. 16, 2024, other executive branch federal law enforcement agencies will report data for their law enforcement officers to the database. The database will include records of instances of misconduct for current and former federal law enforcement officers that occurred over the past seven years, and the Department will conduct regular periodic compliance reviews to assess data quality. In order to support similar law enforcement officer accountability efforts at the state and local level, the Department has also partnered with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST). IADLEST’s National Decertification Index (NDI) is a national registry of law enforcement de-certification and revocation actions relating to officer misconduct that is currently used by all 50 states and D.C. The Department is working with IADLEST to expand the NDI to include additional categories of information required by the Executive Order. The Department is also awarding discretionary grants in a manner that supports and promotes the adoption of the Executive Order’s policies by state and local agencies, including language outlining priority consideration for applicants who use the NDI as part of their hiring and vetting of new officers. 

As part of the Justice Department’s ongoing work to improve public safety and advance accountability in law enforcement, the Department has contributed to more than 90 Executive Order steps, including issuing 18 reports and guidance documents, which can be found on the Office of Legal Policy’s webpage. More information can be found on the NLEAD website.

Justice.gov. 12/18/2023.

From the White House…

05/25/2022:

• Executive Order on Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety

12/18/2023:

Statement from President Joe Biden on the Launch of the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database:

As part of my Administration’s executive order on policing, we committed to create a first of its kind database to track records of law enforcement misconduct so that agencies are able to hire the best personnel. Today, I am fulfilling that promise by launching the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database. This database will ensure that records of serious misconduct by federal law enforcement officers are readily available to agencies considering hiring those officers. We are also working to allow and encourage state, Tribal, local, and territorial law enforcement agencies to make available and access similar records as part of their hiring processes.
 
In May 2022, I signed this executive order to help rebuild trust and deliver the most significant police reform in decades. Since then, we’ve taken critical steps towards effective, accountable policing, including by requiring that federal law enforcement agencies ban chokeholds, strengthening use-of-force policies, restricting no-knock warrants, and directing other measures to advance effective, accountable policing that increases public safety.
 
Protecting public safety depends on trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. By building trust, we can strengthen public safety and we can more effectively fight crime in our communities. The executive order is a measure of what we can do together to heal the very soul of this nation; to address the profound fear and trauma that particularly Black Americans have experienced for generations; and to channel that private pain and public outrage into progress on behalf of all communities.  
 
But we know implementing real and lasting change at the state and local levels requires Congress to act. I urge Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to advance accountability, transparency, and public trust in law enforcement across the nation. Send it to my desk and I will sign it.

White House.gov. 12/18/2023.

Statement by Vice President Kamala Harris on the Launch of the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database:

Every person in our nation has a right to be safe. And trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve is essential for public safety. Police misconduct undermines that trust—and threatens the right to equal justice under law.     

Today, President Joe Biden and I are establishing the first ever federal database to track official records of law enforcement officer misconduct. The National Law Enforcement Accountability Database will ensure that federal agencies have ready access to records of serious misconduct when hiring federal law enforcement officers.

As a United States Senator, with Senator Cory Booker and Representative Karen Bass, I authored the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. And last year, President Biden and I issued an Executive Order banning chokeholds, restricting no-knock warrants, and strengthening use-of-force policies for federal law enforcement, in addition to other critical reforms.

President Biden and I will continue to do all we can to advance police accountability and strengthen the bonds of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. And we renew our call for the United States Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

White House.gov. 12/18/2023.

This is an Open Thread.