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Wednesday, September 20th, 2017

DOJ Rolls Back Program Aiming For Police Department Reform

Author:     CRISTINA CABRERA
Source:     Talking Point Memo
Publication Date:     SEPTEMBER 16, 2017 12:33 PM
 Link: DOJ Rolls Back Program Aiming For Police Department Reform
Stephan:   Jeff Sessions, in my view, is an even worse Attorney General than John Mitchell during the Nixon administration. His entire record in public life is that of a White supremacist Christofascist. Saying he is utterly unsuited and incompetent in his post, and should never have been appointed let alone confirmed is true but irrelevant. He was appointed, he was confirmed, and he is in the post, and he is doing real damage. At a time when trust in law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. is at an all time low, when St. Louis has been in turmoil for days because of police brutality, what is Sessions' response. Here it is. Frighteningly tone deaf and dangerous.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Credit: AP Andrew Harnik

The Department of Justice announced on Friday that it will significantly scale back the Collaborative Reform Initiative, an Obama-era program aimed at improving police departments and their relations with the communities they serve.

The changes would end the program’s investigations into the departments and suggestions for reform, according to the Washington Post.

Instead, the Justice Department will focus on “targeted assistance directly to local law enforcement based on their identified needs and requests.”

“This is a course correction to ensure that resources go to agencies that require assistance rather than expensive wide-ranging investigative assessments that go beyond the scope of technical assistance and support,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a press release.

Run by the DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), the Reform Initiative is a voluntary program created in 2014 in response to the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. Police departments that signed up for it worked with COPS to receive public reports outlining problems and solutions with regards their policing practices.

The announcement came on the […]

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