THE VERDICT in the George Floyd trial has set a bell ringing across every facet of life in the USA and other democracies. Over the last year, his death has caused millions of people and institutions to engage in introspection.

To mix my metaphors; the tectonic plates have shifted and this is a paradigm shift in every facet of civil, judicial and political life in the USA with attendant ripples across the world. This verdict crystalized what has long been established in the UK, which is that the citizens are the police and the police are the citizens.

For good law enforcement officers, this is a vindication and will bolster them as they stand up against rogue colleagues.

Dr Floyd Millen

Let’s be under no illusion, this victory was forced; the bad cops and the police unions fought this to the hilt and they will continue fighting against justice and human rights. For good law enforcement officers, this is a vindication and will bolster them as they stand up against rogue colleagues. This verdict provides tangible proof that the tarnishing of the reputation of the vast majority of law-abiding, fair minded law enforcement officers by rogue officers is coming to an end.

Yesterday, after three weeks of testimony from 45 witnesses which included bystanders, police officials and experts, a jury of 12 found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, guilty of all three charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. We are still to hear about the fate of the other officers who were with him as they should be similarly charged.

This verdict has put policing on notice that it can no longer act with impunity, and has also emboldened citizens in the USA and further afield that they can now demand real time change and expect fair justice in the criminal justice system. In January 2020, Donald Trump announced a presidential commission to look at policing. Since coming into office Joe Biden has been active and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was introduced to congress on February 24 2021. The bill marks a major shift in the attitudes towards and tolerance of police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias.

Citizens have called for change, good officers have called for change and change must now be done, seen to be done and sustained.

Dr Floyd Millen

It includes groundbreaking measures such as:

• Establishing a registry of misconduct and disciplinary actions. It is possible that if this register had been in place, the 18 misconduct cases against Derek Chauvin might well have seen him taken off frontline duty
• Giving the Justice department the power to issue subpoenas to police departments as part of “pattern or practice” to investigate whether there are “patterns and practices” of bias or misconduct by the department
• Increasing the accountability of officers by restricting the application of the qualified immunity where officers have able to argue Mens rea, essentially that they had no intention to commit a crime or that they had no knowledge that their actions or inactions would cause a crime to be committed
• The bill calls for the ban on choke holds such as those used on Eric Garner
• The bill also contains provisions for law enforcement agencies to adopt anti-discrimination policies and training programs, and to halt racial profiling

When citizens call the police on the police, you know that there is something wrong at the very core of the US system of policing which still has not thrown off the practices of the slave patrols from which it was birthed.

Dr Floyd Millen

It is important that we understand that not all shootings or deaths at the hands of the police are miscarriages of justice or aggressive racist policing; but hitherto, without the hope of summary justice, how are citizens to respond to the thousands of deaths in police custody? Now that we have proved that justice is possible, we need to be mindful of the baying crowd and ensure that the pendulum swings appropriately demanding accountability and justice in equal and appropriate measure.

What next?

The most important thing now is that the executive, the legislature, federal police forces, the criminal justice systems and police departments must properly align themselves and march in lockstep with the reasonable expectations of citizens. Citizens have called for change, good officers have called for change and change must now be done, seen to be done and sustained. The police unions in the US need to be brought under tighter control and officers who hide in plain sight swiftly brought to book. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act has been opposed by the Republicans, the police unions and President Trump who threatened to veto it precisely because of the proposed restrictions on police qualified immunity.

When citizens call the police on the police, you know that there is something wrong at the very core of the US system of policing which still has not thrown off the practices of the slave patrols from which it was birthed.

The militarisation of the police in the USA has led to bad behaviour and has sustained a level of detachment of officers who hitherto, acted with impunity as though they were and are an occupying force. The paradigm shift – which must be sustained – is that there is no longer a presumption or expectation that officers are immune from prosecution.

We need to ensure that in the UK, policing by consent remains central to operational policing and we must – at all costs push back at the move to routinely arm officers on the streets of the United Kingdom.

In Police Reform and Political Accountability, I chart the development and progress of policing in the UK and the USA from 1607. It is clear that change will only be sustained when our institutions join us all in the march to a fairer and more equitable society; because we are all equal under the law: aren’t we?

George Floyd changed the world he just never knew it or saw it.

Dr Floyd Millen is a political scientist, a former adviser to the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Author of Police Reform and Political Accountability: The ties that bind policing in England and Wales and the United States of America.