Justice Department Investigates Louisville Police Department

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Just that figure, 17 people, black people, shot and killed just in the time period of the Derek Chauvin trial and since then is just an alarming an extraordinary and unacceptable fact. So what do you think the attorney general and his investigations can actually do?

FMR. STATE REP. CHARLES BOOKER (D-KY): Well, first of all, you’re right. It is an alarming fact. It’s distressing. And it speaks to the systemic challenges that we are facing. And it rises to the point that our federal government has a responsibility to not only get involved and investigate, but to help chart the path forward on systemic change. And I join my entire city and our commonwealth in welcoming the attorney general’s investigation, because it is clear that there are deep structural problems, and we can’t ignore them, avoid them. We have to take them on, so that we can have real accountability and, ultimately, real justice.

AMANPOUR: It’s been — certainly, the people of your state and your city have been calling for that, of course, since the murder of Breonna Taylor more than a year ago. What are the specifics? Because we hear, for instance, I think there have been something like 140 different reforms and other proposals in some 30 states around the nation. What exactly are the most important things? Pick three of the most important things that you think should happen that can stop this excessive use of force and, I mean, the unaccountability?

BOOKER: Well, first of all, to frame this whole conversation, what we’re fighting for and what we expect out of this investigation is a chance for us to further our path to community safety.
We actually want our family, our loved ones from every corner to be safe in their homes. And that does include, in large measure, immediate reforms to our justice system in policing. And it lifts up a lot of the elements that are involved in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, addressing qualified immunity. On my way to meet with you, I drove by a minister who was slammed down in the street, punched repeatedly for what would amount to be jaywalking, for carrying a cross talking about the need for justice. And also understanding that we have to make sure that our dollars are going towards actual public safety. Now, coming from the West End of Louisville, the hood, I have seen law enforcement engage our community as if we are enemy combatants. And having militarized operations does not keep the community safe. So how do we invest in true holistic safety? And the bigger conversation, which is really what Breonna Taylor forced us all to dig into, is, how do we address poverty? How do we stop criminalizing it? And how do we make sure that all the agencies of government are accountable to it? And that’s a deeper investment that we have to commit to beyond just saying that there are a few bad apples in law enforcement. This is a systemic