Justice for Breonna Taylor needs more cooperation, less pettiness from state lawmakers

In an ideal world than the one we live in, legislators in Frankfort who were horrified by Breonna Taylor’s death at the hands of police would have sought out people who have suffered from police brutality and systemic racism, perhaps their colleagues, like Rep. Attica Scott, D-Louisville. They might have listened to her lived experience as a passionate and diligent protester who spent numerous nights on the ground with others in Louisville as they tried to get justice for Breonna. They might have honored this experience by allowing a hearing of House Bill 21, “Breonna’s Law,” Scott’s legislation to ban the practice of no-knock warrants that Louisville police used carelessly to enter her boyfriend’s house, a calamitous tragedy of errors that ended with Breonna bleeding out on the floor.

But we live in Kentucky.

Breonna’s Law will probably not get a hearing because Scott is a Democrat in a Republican House which is currently flexing its political muscles by keeping Democratic bills out of committee. This is petty and wrong.

Therefore we must look to the Senate and give Senate President Robert Stivers some credit for at least pushing forward a bill that will improve the process of no-knock warrants even if it stops short of banning them altogether. Now that he’s dried his tears over kneeling UK athletes, Stivers has with Senate Bill 4 opened the door to an important step that could lead to more police reforms. (According to one of his spokesmen, Stivers did meet with Scott before the session began and “had a good conversation,” with her, but no further conversations since that time.)

Stivers’ bill would tighten the rules around no knock warrants, requiring “clear and convincing evidence” that lives would be in danger or evidence destroyed if prior notice is given of a police search of a property. Police would have to get approval of such a warrant from their supervisors as well as consult with local prosecutors. In Taylor’s case, police had faulty information about drugs at Taylor’s boyfriend’s residence, where she was killed. No drugs were found there.

Taylor’s death prompted a national conversation over no knock warrants. A poll last October showed that 66 percent of Kentuckians favored banning them altogether. In Lexington, Mayor Linda Gorton declared a moratorium on the practice, although that has not yet been made permanent, despite Lexington’s own tale of one botched raid using a no knock warrant where luckily no one was hurt. Banning the practice was one of the recommendations of Lexington’s Commission on Racial Justice and Equality. Louisville banned the practice already.

Stivers is working with at least one Black legislator, Lexington’s own Sen. Reggie Thomas, who is a co-sponsor of SB 4 and said last week that it’s a step in the right direction.

“I do think the state Senate this year is being sensitive to the Black Lives Matter movement to try to correct some of the problems we’ve seen,” he said. “I’m going to give the Senate that much credit.”

Fair enough. But it’s not too late for Stivers to consult with Scott on his bill and see if there are pieces of her bill that could be incorporated into his. For example, while SB 4 requires any police executing a no knock warrant to wear cameras, Scott’s bill requires police to use body worn cameras when they execute any kind of search warrant, which seems like an excellent idea.

If Republicans actually care about racial justice in this state and this country, as they profess to, they need to do better in the General Assembly, particularly in the House. As Scott told us last week, if we don’t get away from the pettiness of ignoring good ideas from another political party, especially when that party has more expertise on topics like police brutality, “that’s maintaining the system of oppression that got us where we are today.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 10:24 AM.