Republicans want to block a change in police policy following the death of Tire Nichols
What it means: Fear of an increase in crime calls for police reform.
Republicans had backed the measure as a means to reduce crime in the state, citing cases in which a minor traffic violation had led officers to uncover drug trafficking and violent crimes.
“It’s time to take the handcuffs off the police and put them on criminals where they belong,” said Senator Brent Taylor, a Republican from Memphis.
But Democrats warned that the Republican supermajority was undoing an important reform. “It’s a slap in the face,” said Sen. London Lamar, a Democrat from Memphis, adding that the ordinance did not hinder efforts to stop reckless driving and violence in the city.
However, Republicans denied that the bill would cause additional damage.
Behind the tensions: an ongoing battle between the Legislature and Tennessee’s largest cities.
Republicans in control of the state government have repeatedly targeted the autonomy of Tennessee’s largest, and largely Democratic-led, cities.
In recent years, the Legislature has sought to exert its authority over Nashville and Memphis, whose leaders are increasingly at odds with Republican proposals in the Legislature. Nashville in particular has been hit with legislation that would reduce the size of the council and overtake the airport authority’s board of directors.
“We must do everything in our power to protect local control when it comes to matters of the life and death of our community,” state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, a Democrat from Memphis, told reporters Thursday.
Tire Nichols’ family: ‘We worked too hard to get this done.’
Mr. Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, and his stepfather, Rodney Wells, drove from Memphis to the State Capitol in Nashville repeatedly this month, pleading with lawmakers to keep the law in place.
“Coming back to Nashville is the easy part because we want justice to be done,” Wells said Thursday. “We worked too hard to get this done.”
But the pair left before it was debated after speaking with Mr Taylor, the Senate’s chief sponsor. Mr Taylor confirmed that he had rejected their request to postpone the debate and passage, adding afterwards that he “thought it was best to go ahead and have closure for the family and also for the community at home .”