BALTIMORE, Md. – U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski met with community leaders in Baltimore Monday to push for a series of police reform bills.
Mikulski pointed to the recent riots in the city, saying there is a trust gap between police departments and communities around the country.
“This is a Baltimore problem and it is a national problem,” the Maryland Democrat said, speaking at First Mount Calvary Baptist Church.
Under the bills, police departments would be required to provide more thorough data to the FBI when reporting deadly incidents involving officers. Additionally, when applying for certain federal grants, departments would need to outline the kind of training their officers have received.
“The Justice Department needs to know that they’ve had the right training to be able to do the right job and to do it the right way,” she said.
Tens of millions of dollars would be allocated for programs that focus on strengthening police-community relations. And $20 million would be set aside for police body cameras.
“What I have done is to put more money in the federal checkbook for body cameras,” Mikulski added.
Mikulski’s reforms have cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee and now head to the full Senate for consideration. She hopes lawmakers will pass them by the end of the summer.
