Mayor Turner Asks Cities Across the Country to Join in Tribute to George Floyd and Commit to Policing System Reforms

Style Magazine Newswire | 6/12/2020, 8:22 a.m.
Mayor Sylvester Turner has proven to be a man action and not just talk. During the public memorial for George …
Mayor Sylvester Turner

Mayor Sylvester Turner has proven to be a man action and not just talk. During the public memorial for George Floyd, whose death has sparked protests around the world demanding for justice for his wrongful death, Mayor Turner declared that things would change in Houston with a new executive order.

“In this city, we will ban chokeholds and strangleholds. In this city, we will require de-escalation. In this, you have to give a warning before you shoot. In this, you have a duty to intervene. In this city, we will require comprehensive reporting. In this city, you must exhaust all alternatives before a shooting, and there will be other things in this executive order,” said Mayor Turner as the crowd cheered.

The executive order includes such mandates as:

-Ban on chokeholds

-Ban on no-knock warrants without written approval

-De-escalation techniques

-Requiring intervention and notification before using deadly force

Mayor Turner signed the order with the Houston City Council watching on June 10th.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said the order is inline with what the police is doing already. The order brings the policy into a formal written agreement for future police chiefs.

“All the rules read today, regardless of whether they’re existing or new ... cannot be changed by a future chief without coming through the mayor’s office, cannot be changed in the dark, cannot be changed overnight,” Acevedo said.

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