Governor Kristi Noem wants law enforcement officers to attend resistance training every two years. The State Senate has already approved a bill that would allow her to add two citizens to a law enforcement standards commission.
The proposals do not include any policing reforms Noem mentioned in response to actions taken in South Dakota and across the nation after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. During a press conference in early June, Noem said she wants to examine police union contracts and civil asset forfeiture laws.
Noem says the resistance training requirement did come out of discussions with law enforcement following the nationwide debate about policing.
“It was after that event in Minneapolis in recognizing that we realized we needed to people in the room and start talking about solutions,” Noem says. “I appreciate the partnership we have with law enforcement in South Dakota. A lot of outstanding men and women step up and serve.”
Noem says her office is working with the Attorney General’s office on a bill that increases the Law Enforcement Officers Standards Commission from 11 to 13. Those two additional members will get appointed by the governor.
“This is the culmination of a process that we started early last summer in several meetings that we’ve hosted with law enforcement,” Noem says.
Noem says the citizen voices on the standards commission will strengthen trust between law enforcement and the public.
Black and indigenous people face higher rates of incarceration and police interaction. According to the Attorney General’s crime stats from 2019, 30 percent of arrests were Native American. The census estimates they make up about nine percent of the population. A similar arrest rate disparity exists for black people in South Dakota.
As to whether the citizens who will sit on the review panel should include Black and Native Americans, Noem says they’re not specifying that in the legislation.
