NC could track police misconduct, shootings — but data would be secret

Colin Campbell
·3 min read

Senate legislation would require law-enforcement agencies to report disciplinary actions and some incidents of officers using force to a new database, but the proposal is facing criticism because the database wouldn’t be public.

Senate Bill 300, titled “Criminal Justice Reform,” also includes several other provisions, including a decriminalization of local ordinance violations and a measure to make rioting a felony. The lead sponsor is Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

SB 300 calls for the N.C. Department of Justice to create the database with the Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission and the Sheriffs’ Education and Training Standards Commission. All law-enforcement agencies — from campus police to cities to the state Highway Patrol — would be required to add information about officers who are disciplined or lose their certification.

They’d also have to provide information about any incident in which an officer uses force and someone is seriously injured or killed. The database would allow other agencies to vet new officers, but it would otherwise be confidential.

Brent Woodcox, an attorney for Senate Republicans, tweeted that the database would serve “as an early warning system to root out the bad apples before critical incidents happen.” He called SB 300 “probably the most significant criminal justice reform legislation with a chance to pass the #NCGA that has been filed in years.”

But transparency advocates including the N.C. Press Association want the database to be public. That was the recommendation from the Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice, which was appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper and led by Attorney General Josh Stein and N.C. Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls.

The task force also called for the database to include all use-of-force incidents, not just those that result in serious injury or death.

In an opinion article published this week in multiple North Carolina newspapers, Press Association leaders wrote that under the bill, “North Carolinians would remain in the dark about the records of those who police their streets and manage their state and local law enforcement agencies.”

The article says Stein is pushing for the confidential database, but his spokeswoman says that’s not true.

“Our office has not proposed a bill,” spokeswoman Laura Brewer said in an email. “We did share the Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice’s recommendation to create a transparent database to improve accountability in the criminal justice system. We are open to proposals that improve transparency.”

The Press Association is working on separate legislation that it says will “open the door ever so slightly to public viewing of the reasons for terminating, promoting, suspending, demoting or disciplining a government employee,” including law-enforcement officers.

That bill hadn’t been filed as of Monday, but the association says the sponsors will be Senate Rules Chairman Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, and Britt’s co-chair on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico.

The database is only one of several provisions in SB 300. Among the others:

  • Engaging in a riot would become a Class H felony, instead of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

  • Violations of local ordinances — for example, a city’s noise or parking ordinance — could no longer be treated as misdemeanors, and they’d instead be considered infractions with a maximum fine of $50.

  • The timeline for first court appearances when someone is jailed would be sped up and would need to be held within 48 hours from when a magistrate filed the charges.

For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Pandora, Spotify. Apple Podcasts. Stitcher. iHeartRadio. Amazon Music, Megaphone or wherever you get your podcasts.

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