Richmond, Virginia—Sunday will mark the fifth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer.  In the wake of the killing and subsequent killings of Black civilians by armed officers, Virginia joined many other states in building out laws to strengthen police accountability, reform the criminal justice system, and create structures to protect people in the midst of a mental health crisis from becoming victims of excessive force from law enforcement. 

Five years later, what is the status of some of those early reforms? 

“Half a decade after George Floyd’s murder, we are seeing the tragic consequences of a system that continues to prioritize institutional power over community safety and justice,” said LaTwyla Mathias, Executive Director of Progress Virginia. “We took some promising steps toward reform in 2020, but those gains are now under threat. Underfunding, obstruction, and political backsliding have hollowed out what should have been transformational change. The abandonment of DOJ accountability agreements and the defunding of mental health resources are a betrayal of the public trust and a dangerous retreat from equity. Our communities deserve more than symbolism—they deserve action, safety, and justice that values every life. We will not stop pushing until that vision is fully realized.”

Civilian Law Enforcement Review 

After Floyd’s murder and several other prominent killings of Black men and women by law enforcement, members of the General Assembly passed legislation to encourage the creation of robust civilian law enforcement review boards with subpoena power and disciplinary authority. They also banned the use of no-knock warrants, chokeholds, and other forceful tactics, and gave civilian review boards broad oversight power to help eliminate those practices at the local level. However, many localities have struggled to implement those review boards, and their powers have been undercut by subsequent legislation limiting public access to hearings and records, and legislation designed to prevent censured officers from “job jumping” to other departments has been inconsistently applied. 

Marcus Alert Programs

In the wake of the officer-involved shooting of Marcus-David Peters, a Richmond man suffering a mental health crisis, the General Assembly passed a program to encourage behavioral health specialists to respond to behavioral health emergencies instead of armed officers. Years after the Marcus Alert program was passed, only 17 localities have functioning Marcus Alert sites, and those sites report consistent struggles with staffing, training, and systems integration. Additionally, the Trump administration has revoked billions of dollars in funding for addiction and mental health care, including funding for the Peer Recovery Specialists that were an integral part of the Marcus Alert system. 

Federal Police Reform

In an attempt to root out systemic racism in police departments and disproportionate use of force by police officers, the Biden administration opened investigations into several local police departments and ramped up ongoing investigations of other departments accused of systemic racism, including the Portsmouth Police Department.  These resulted in several police accountability agreements between local police and the Department of Justice. On Wednesday, the Justice Department moved to abandon those agreements, as part of a larger push by the DOJ to cease focusing on racial discrimination and instead target diversity initiatives for investigation.