Bills introduced to open police records, clarify use of force

Three bills introduced May 25 are intended to open police misconduct records and clarify use of force by police.

“These bills are a cumulation of a call that was made a year ago,” said Attorney General Kathy Jennings, referring to the justice for all agenda laid out by the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus in 2020. “My wish is that we get all of these bills passed this session.”

Senate Bill 149, sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Lockman, D-Wilmington, would amend sections of the Delaware Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights by making records of police misconduct publicly accessible for the first time in 25 years.

Delaware is the only state that specifically codifies the confidentiality of law enforcement personnel records from public scrutiny in nearly all circumstances, officials said.

“I understand that this is a weighty conversation,” Lockman said. “My intention is to continue to have conversations with stakeholders.”

Gov. John Carney said he has not yet read through the bills, but he looks forward to discussing them in the future.

“Looking through the law officer’s bill of rights, obviously the devil is in the details with respect to qualified immunity that all state employees enjoy at some level,” he said.

Sen. Marie Pinkney, D-Bear, said they worked with police departments in developing the bills. “They know what's to come,” she said.

Pinkney's bill, Senate Bill 147, would change language in Delaware's use-of-force law to require that use of force be considered reasonably justified instead of resting on whether an officer simply believes it to be justified, as currently written.

“We need to get to a point where people aren't losing their lives,” she said.

The third bill, Senate Bill 148, would expand the power of the Delaware Department of Justice's Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust to include use-of-force incidents that result in serious physical injury, not just incidents that result in death.

Jennings said she is looking into developing a uniform use-of-force policy across Delaware's 48 police departments.