Police reforms in Virginia stalling, but still needed, says new report

Former Charlottesville Police Chief Rashall Brackney figures prominently in a state report critical of efforts at police reform.

In June 2020, after the killing of George Floyd, hundreds gathered in front of the UVA Rotunda to demand police accountability, but post-pandemic those efforts have slowed and stalled. Photo by Ted Corcoran

The push for police reform following the killing of George Floyd in 2020 led to an array of reform efforts across the country, and a renewed commitment to a police civilian review board in Charlottesville, but a detailed new state report shows those efforts have stalled, and may actually be moving backward.

“Recent legislative initiatives in Virginia have sought to increase accountability and curb police abuses in some contexts, though implementation of these efforts has been limited, and has been met with significant resistance from the law enforcement community.” - the Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

“The social justice demands of 2020 seem similarly disconnected from our current reality, as if we imagined them,” writes Michael Paul Williams, the…