Former Senator and soon-to-be Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) will be inheriting a Department of Justice dedicated to police reform. The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division investigates police agencies that are suspected of violating people’s rights. The former AG called the division the department’s “crown jewel.
However, once Sen. Sessions assumes office, the DOJ’s priorities will likely be in stark contrast to what they have been in the past eight years.
Vice News states:
“Sessions’ voting record and statements as a senator, however, reveal that he mostly wants the federal government to stay out of policing. And the president-elect, who called himself the ‘law and order’ candidate, campaigned on a tough-on-crime, pro-police platform. Their stances signal a dramatic shift in priorities for the nation’s top law enforcement agency at a time when tensions surrounding police shootings show no sign of easing.”
What’s startling is that this could signal the end of past reforms, such as consent decrees. A provision in the 1994 Crime Bill gave the DOJ power to investigate police departments for misconduct through court enforceable consent decrees.
Sen. Sessions has made his dislike of consent decrees clear in a report from his think tank the Alabama Policy Institute:
“One of the most dangerous, and rarely discussed, exercises of raw power is the issuance of expansive court decrees. Consent decrees have a profound effect on our legal system as they constitute an end run around the democratic process”.
Another reform promoted by the DOJ is Community-Oriented Policing Services or COPS. COPS provides funding and guidelines for hiring and training community based police officers to patrol the same neighborhoods in an effort to build trust with the community.
Although, Sen. Sessions described community policing as a “great thing,” he voted against COPS funding in 1999.
Furthermore, Donald Trump has referred to police officers as the “most mistreated people in America.” Trump has also favored the highly controversial and ineffective practice of stop-and-frisk – a procedure that calls for police to stop and search citizens at random without probable cause or a warrant.
The President-Elect has even called for the procedure to be implemented nationwide. Additionally, both Trump and Sessions support the DOD’s 1033 program. The program allows for military surplus equipment such as armored vehicles, grenade launchers, and even tanks.
President Obama has rolled back the program but Trump plans on restoring it.
Lastly, this coming change to DOJ practices is understandably frightening for many. Though police brutality is still a severe problem, a lack of federal oversight and a cut to community policing programs will make it much worse.
Militarized police officers with tanks and grenade launchers represent a danger to the public. Especially, to members of the public engaged in protest. A nation wide stop-and-frisk will place people of color, ethnic minorities, and the homeless in a much more vulnerable position.
We already can’t breath, and now Trump wants to choke the life out of us on a grander scale.
Watch this CNN report for more information on Trump’s selection of Sen. Sessions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQYDYD3z_L0
Featured Image: Screenshot Via YouTube Video.
