December 20th 2023.
Today, the Biden-Harris administration fulfilled a promise made in President Biden’s 2023 State of the Union Address by announcing the creation of the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD). This system will allow officers to access records of police misconduct, commendations, and awards. These misconduct records include excessive force, false reports, discriminatory behavior, and sexual misconduct.
Vice President Kamala Harris shared in a press release, “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.”
The NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund praised the Biden-Harris administration for this important step towards police accountability. Janai Nelson, the president and director-counsel, said, “Law enforcement agencies will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to the records of misconduct in officer hiring and offending officers will not be able to distance themselves from their misdeeds.”
The ACLU also responded to the database’s launch, but was critical of the system’s limitations. The database is not available to the public, only includes records from the last seven years, and is voluntary for state and local law enforcement agencies to participate. Nina Patel, the ACLU’s senior policy counsel, said, “Today’s launch of a non-public federal police misconduct registry is a small step towards accountability, but we need more to address the systemic harms.”
The Biden-Harris administration has taken an important step towards police accountability with the launch of the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database. This system is only a small step in the road to reform, but it is a step in the right direction.
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