A nationwide database designed to track police misconduct and prevent officers with histories of abuse from rejoining law enforcement has been deleted under orders from President Donald Trump.The Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed that the system, which contained records of nearly 150,000 officers and federal agents, has been shut down following an executive order signed by Trump.
The database was initially created in response to growing concerns over police accountability, particularly after the death of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked mass protests against police brutality across the United States and beyond.
Footage from George Floyd’s arrest, shortly before he stopped breathingDarnella/Frazer/Facebook
The purpose of the index was to prevent officers with a history of misconduct from simply transferring to a new police department without accountability. Many officers accused of excessive force or unethical behavior were often able to move to different agencies, effectively erasing their records and starting over.Following Floyd’s death, the initiative to create a national misconduct registry gained momentum as a way to increase transparency and trust between law enforcement and the public.
Floyd was killed when Derek Chauvin, a then-Minneapolis police officer, kneeled on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds while detaining him over an alleged counterfeit bill. His dying words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement and led to widespread calls for police reform.
The database had only been fully operational since December 2023. During that time, all 90 executive branch agencies contributed disciplinary records dating back to 2017, according to a DOJ report released at the time.Speaking to The Washington Post, Thomas Abt, director of the Violence Reduction Center at the University of Maryland, emphasized the importance of the registry, stating: “Everyone, cops and communities alike, has an interest in keeping officers with histories of serious misconduct from rejoining the profession.”
He added: “Nonpartisan public safety reforms like these should be placed above politics and maintained across administrations.”
