Sessions Signals A Rollback On Justice Departments Police Reform Efforts

“Since when did protecting civil rights take the back seat to making sure police officers don’t get their feelings hurt?” a former DOJ official says.

By Ryan J. Reilly


WASHINGTON ― Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered a wide-ranging review of the Justice Department’s efforts to rein in rogue law enforcement agencies, putting the future of police reform in doubt.

In a March 31 “Memorandum Supporting Federal, State, Local and Tribal Law Enforcement” that was released Monday, Sessions set out several principles for the Justice Department’s posture toward local law enforcement. While local agencies should “protect and respect the civil rights of all members of the public,” the memo states, “local control and local accountability are necessary for effective local policing,” and managing non-federal law enforcement agencies “is not the responsibility of the federal government.”



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In seeking to comply with Session’s memo, Justice Department lawyers sought Monday to delay a hearing on the ongoing case in Baltimore. They requested time as they evaluate whether the consent decree under consideration in Baltimore would “advance the safety and protection of the public, promote officer safety and morale, protect and respect the civil rights of all members of the public, respect local control of law enforcement, are rooted in timely and reliable statistics on crime and criminals, and do not impede recruitment and training of officers,” as laid out in Sessions’ memo.


Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called the Justice Department’s request to delay the consent decree progress in Baltimore “truly shocking.”


“Attorney General Jeff Sessions is undermining and obstructing extensive efforts that have been made to promote policing reform in a small set of the most broken police departments in our country,” Clarke said in a statement. “In a 163-page report, the Justice Department laid out extensive evidence of unconstitutional policing practices including unlawful stops, searches, and arrests; racial disparities in the rates of stops, searches and arrests; and use of excessive force. The mayor, the community and the police department all support reform, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions is the obstacle standing in the way. This administration is making clear its intent to delay and obstruct federal civil rights enforcement across our country.”




Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sessions-justice-department-police-civil-rights_us_58e3039ee4b03a26a3656ff2?

So it starts, not that we didn't know it was coming.