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President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order in an effort to bring some semblance of meaningful reform to policing in America. The signing at the White House coincided with the two-year anniversary of the horrific police murder of George Floyd.

The executive order comes as the U.S. Senate has allowed legislation in Floyd’s name to languish for nearly a year in a time span that has seen police killings, particularly of Black people, continue to go unpunished with apparent impunity.

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Specifically, Biden is signing the executive order “to advance effective, accountable policing and criminal justice practices that will build public trust and strengthen public safety,” according to a fact sheet provided by the White House on Tuesday. It emphasizes promoting trust between police departments and the communities they serve. That “broken” trust must be repaired before any real inroads affecting policing can be made.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=feedly&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NlbnNpdGl2ZV9tZWRpYV9pbnRlcnN0aXRpYWxfMTM5NjMiOnsiYnVja2V0IjoiaW50ZXJzdGl0aWFsIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd190d2VldF9yZXN1bHRfbWlncmF0aW9uXzEzOTc5Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InR3ZWV0X3Jlc3VsdCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1529561852270755840&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Ffeedly.com%2F&sessionId=00fbcfb36bfee4a9146893d4922eaa4a4cd62837&siteScreenName=feedly&theme=light&widgetsVersion=c8fe9736dd6fb%3A1649830956492&width=500px

“To heal as a nation, we must acknowledge that fatal encounters with law enforcement have disproportionately involved Black and Brown people,” the fact sheet says.

Civil rights groups have said the executive order is an important first step but ultimately requires a broader legislative effort to institute protocols that include true accountability.

“While the order sets necessary baseline standards of record-keeping, accountability and acceptable police behavior for federal law enforcement agencies, we can and must do so much more,” Rashad Robinson, president of Color Of Change, said in a statement emailed to NewsOne. He called it a “first step towards establishing a baseline for addressing the country’s toxic culture of policing and lack of accountability for officers and police departments” before adding, that Color Of Change is “disappointed” that the only acting being taken is the executive order.

Source: Black Leaders React To Biden’s Policing Executive Order