Justice Department intervenes to help resolve key sticking point in talks over policing bill to ease path for Hill deal A bipartisan group of negotiators is stymied over a key issue in talks on overhauling policing practices nationwide: The standard for charging police officers with crimes. And now, the Justice Department is directly engaged in the talks to help resolve the stalemate and ease the path for a sweeping policing deal to be reached on Capitol Hill, according to several people familiar with the matter. As lawmakers see if they can find consensus before a self-imposed May 25 deadline, the issue continues to be a key point of contention, with Democrats pushing to lower the standard so officers can be charged for reckless conduct while Republicans say the matter needs to be off the table in the negotiations.