What it means: Fears of rising crime outweigh calls for police reform.
Republicans had championed the measure as a way to reduce crime in the state, citing cases in which a minor traffic violation had led officers to investigate drug trafficking and violent crimes.
“It’s time to take the handcuffs away from police and put them on criminals where they belong,” said state Sen. Brent Taylor, a Republican from Memphis.
But Democrats warned that the Republican supermajority would kill an important reform. “It’s a slap in the face,” said state Sen. London Lamar, a Democrat from Memphis, adding that the ordinance does not hinder efforts to stop reckless driving or violence in the city.
But Republicans denied the bill would cause additional harm.
Behind the tensions: An ongoing battle between the Legislature and Tennessee’s largest cities.
Republicans who control state government have repeatedly targeted the autonomy of Tennessee’s largest and predominantly Democratic cities.
In recent years, the Legislature has sought to exert its authority on Nashville and Memphis, whose leaders are increasingly at odds with Republican proposals in the Legislature. Nashville, in particular, fought legislation that would shrink the size of its city council and overhaul its airport authority board.
“We must do everything in our power to protect local control when it is a matter of life and death for our community,” state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, a Democrat from Memphis, told reporters Thursday.
Tire Nichols’ family: “We worked too hard to get this through.”
Mr. Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, and his stepfather, Rodney Wells, made repeated trips from Memphis to the state Capitol in Nashville this month, pleading with lawmakers to leave the law in place.
“Returning to Nashville is the easy part because we want justice to be served,” Mr. Wells said Thursday. “We worked too hard to get this through.”
But after speaking with Mr. Taylor, the Senate’s lead sponsor, the two left before it was debated. Mr Taylor confirmed that he rejected their request to postpone the debate and adoption, and then added that he “thought it was best to move on and bring closure to the family and also the community back home”.
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2024-03-14 19:42:56
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