WASHINGTON _ Local law enforcement agencies are not required to record and report to the federal government about cases where police officers fatally shoot civilians.
Sen. Tim Scott wants to change that. But the South Carolina Republican has struggled to find momentum for legislation that would require such data collection, even after a string of high-profile police shootings over the past several years.
Scott first introduced the "Walter Scott Notification Act" in 2015, inspired by and named for the unarmed black man in North Charleston, S.C., who was shot and killed that year by a police officer who later pleaded guilty to federal charges and was sentenced to 20 years in jail. Walter Scott was not related to the lawmaker, the only black Republican in the Senate.
