Wisconsin finally adopts police use of force policy

Progress on policing in Wisconsin. It has been more than one year since the death of George Floyd, but finally Wisconsin is adopting reform measures designed to ensure police accountability. Earlier this year, the Legislature approved bills banning the use of chokeholds by police, except in matters of life and death. Lawmakers also passed bills that require the reporting of any use of force by police and one which requires police departments across the state to post those policies online. Those bills passed with bipartisan support, and Governor Tony Evers quickly signed them into law. There has been more progress, with Evers now signing a recently passed bill that sets statewide standards for acceptable use of force by police. It is about time. Without uniform standards, police departments were free to set their own rules about when to use force, and how. The law now says police can only use deadly force only as a last resort. Any violations of that must be reported, and whistleblowers will be protected for doing so.  Crafting these bills into laws now signed by the Governor is progress in making changes in how policing is done. They may be long overdue and it should not have taken a death at the hands of police to prompt it, but at least some good came of that tragedy.