Norton calls for DOJ grants for policing task force

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) on Thursday called on the Justice Department to provide grants creating task forces on modern policing in light of the Walter Scott shooting.

Norton announced last month that she plans to introduce a bill authorizing a grant program from existing Justice Department funds for establish local task forces on how communities can reform their police departments to prevent racial profiling and other controversial practices.

Walter Scott, an unarmed African-American man, was shot by a police officer last week in North Charleston, S.C. Bystander video shows Scott running away as a police officer draws his gun. The officer, Michael Slager, has been charged with murder and fired from his post.

{mosads}”The killing of another unarmed black male, Walter Scott, who was shot in the back by a police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina on April 4, 2015, and similar events present an opportunity to encourage states and localities to begin implementation of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing report,” Norton wrote in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason.

Norton argued that the Justice Department should make the funds available now rather than waiting for movement on her bill.

“[A]s shooting incidents continue, action by the administration is necessary now,” Norton wrote.

“Legislative action to establish a grant program for local police departments to establish task forces on 21st century policing, of course, would be appropriate, but we cannot wait while more lives are tragically taken,” Norton added in a statement.