Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, who has pushed for more accountability from police officers in the wake of George Floyd's death, once pushed for legislation that would have made it more difficult to investigate cops who were accused of committing crimes while on duty, experts told CNN.
Biden repeatedly tried to pass the Police Officers' Bill of Rights for more than 15 years while serving as a Delaware senator.
The bill had provisions that would have restricted how, when and where departments could interview their own police officers. It also limited investigations to one interrogator. And it gave officers advanced warnings in writing when and if they would be investigated.
The measure received support from police unions and pushback from police chiefs around the country. It also faced harsh criticism from the National League of Cities and The United States Conference of Mayors and other municipal organizations.
"As Joe Biden underscored when he held his very first rally of this campaign in a Pittsburgh union hall, he has spent his career fighting for workers' right to unionize and for fundamental workplace rules with respect to any profession," Andrew Bates, Biden's campaign spokesperson, told CNN.
"That's what this effort, backed by (the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) and a host of Democratic congressional leaders ranging from then-Representative Sherrod Brown to Representative Jim Clyburn to then-Representative Chuck Schumer, was all about."
Bates also mentioned the bill had a provision that excluded protections for criminal misconduct.
While introducing the bill on the Senate floor in 1991, Biden attempted to persuade his colleagues the measure would not disrupt criminal investigations into police misconduct. He even mentioned the infamous case of the Rodney King beating, just months after a video was released showing a black man being beaten by several police officers in the Los Angeles Police Department.
"The bill explicitly provides that the standards and protections governing internal investigations shall not apply to investigations for criminal misconduct by law enforcement officers," Biden said.
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