The U.S. Justice Department has recently removed a database that tracked misconduct by federal law enforcement officers. This database, which was created during Biden’s presidency, was initially proposed by Trump during his first term.
The database, called the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, was taken down as of Feb. 20, according to the Washington Post. The Justice Department’s website now says the database is being decommissioned after Trump canceled Biden’s executive order that established it.
As of last September, the database had almost 5,000 records of misconduct by federal officers between 2018 and 2023. Trump originally suggested setting up this kind of database back in June 2020, following the tragic killing of George Floyd, who died when a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck.
Interestingly, just before his second term in January 2021, Trump pardoned two officers involved in the 2020 killing of a 20-year-old Black man, Karon Hylton-Brown, in Washington, D.C.
It’s worth noting that the removal of this federal database doesn’t affect the National Decertification Index, which is a national registry tracking state and local police officers who’ve lost their certification due to misconduct.
