Obama cracks down on abuses by big-city police departments

[babylonsister]

Obama cracks down on abuses by big-city police departments
In shift from Bush, Obama's DOJ is aggressively investigating police departments accused of civil rights violations
By Justin Elliott

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In a marked shift from the Bush administration, President Obama's Justice Department is aggressively investigating several big urban police departments for systematic civil rights abuses such as harassment of racial minorities, false arrests, and excessive use of force.

In interviews, activists and attorneys on the ground in several cities where the DOJ has dispatched civil rights investigators welcomed the shift. To progressives disappointed by Eric Holder's Justice Department on key issues like the failure to investigate Bush-era torture and the prosecution of whistle-blowers, recent actions by the DOJ's Civil Rights Division are a bright spot.

In just the past few months, the Civil Rights Division has announced "pattern and practice" investigations in Newark, New Jersey and Seattle. It's also conducting a preliminary investigation of the Denver Police Department, and all this is on top of a high-profile push to reform the notorious New Orleans Police Department -- as well as criminal prosecutions of several New Orleans officers.

The "pattern and practice" authority comes from a 1994 law passed by Congress after the brutal beating of Rodney King by white Los Angeles police officers, who allegedly yelled racial slurs as they hit him. The law allows the DOJ to sue police departments if there is a pattern of violations of citizens' constitutional rights -- things like an excessive use of force, discrimination, and illegal searches. Often, after an investigation, the police department in question will enter into a voluntary reform agreement with the DOJ to avoid a lawsuit and the imposition of reforms.

"Under the Bush administration, the Justice Department disappeared here in terms of federal civil rights enforcement. You could see the shift to counterterrorism at the ground level after Sept. 11," says Mary Howell , a New Orleans civil rights attorney who has been working on police misconduct cases for more than three decades. "Now they're back doing criminal prosecutions of police and the civil rights investigation, which is huge."

more...

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/05/30/justice_department_civil_rights_police/index.html

[mopinko]

1. something that he fought for here in illinois.

he was the one who nursed through a bill to video tape police interrogations. it was tough to get cops, prosecutors and public defenders together. it took a long time. but he did it.

[LiberalFighter]

2. I hope they do the same for small town/city police.

[CakeGrrl]

3. That's why they're hiring attorneys with Civil Rights experience.

A little more than halfway through the first term, and the improvements are steady coming.

[Politicalboi]

4. What about Medical MJ shops?

[babylonsister]

5. What about them? Sounds like a different topic to me. nt

[boppers]

7. The DEA and local cops are busting abusive Medical MJ shops, too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4869978

Nobody is above the law.

[Ya Tzarone]

6. K&R

[jenmito]

8. K&R. Has Cornel West had anything to say about this? n/t

[donheld]

9. Denver needs some major help

our police are out of control.