ACLU of Delaware shares the outrage and pain that many in our community are feeling in the wake of the state’s decision not to prosecute the police officers who needlessly killed Jeremy McDole last September. Mr. McDole’s death is a tragedy for his family, the Wilmington community and the Black community in particular, and highlights the urgent need for systemic change to address the problems of racially biased policing and excessive use of force by law enforcement authorities.
ACLU of Delaware calls on the Wilmington Police Department to take immediate steps to reform its policing practices, as suggested in the report issued by the Delaware Attorney General’s Office about McDole’s killing. This reform should include, at a minimum, a detailed use of force policy that includes procedures on de-escalation and interacting with people who are experiencing a psychiatric crisis or who have a disability. Reform must also include comprehensive training to ensure that these policies are followed consistently by every officer.
WPD must do more to ensure that officers do not act out of racial bias and are disciplined when they do so. Any officer who demonstrates a pattern of using excessive force must be removed from the police force.
Finally, the legislature must address the fact that, under current Delaware law, police officers who claim self-defense when they kill someone in the line of duty need only prove that they sincerely believed that lethal force was necessary—even if that belief is unreasonable. This law should be amended as soon as possible to adopt the prevailing self-defense standard in many other states, requiring objective reasonableness to justify the use of lethal force.
Better training and laws must be implemented to prevent these continuing, needless killings.
Read a general overview of the case from the 5/13/16 News Journal
Read the Delaware Department of Justice report on the case, dated 5/12/16.
