The following contains editorial content written by a retired Chief of Police and current staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.
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WASHINGTON, DC- There was a reason that an overwhelming number of police officers voted for President Trump over Joe Biden and that decision is now being validated based on information found on the Biden campaign website, Newsmax and other outlets are reporting.
The website said that Biden, if he prevails in getting certified by Congress next week, will return to the Obama-era “pattern or practice investigations” and “consent decrees” in order to go after police departments outside of the legislative process.
Under those two scenarios, police departments would be in essence “prosecuted” for alleged “systemic police misconduct,” according to the Biden campaign website.
A statement on the website seemed to confirm the myth of “systemic racism” espoused by protesters and rioters after the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis last May.
“We need to confront racial and income-based disparities in our justice system and eliminate overly harsh sentencing for non-violent crimes,” the statement read.
When Obama was president, the administration opened 25 “pattern or practice” investigations, while President Trump’s administration has only opened one, according to The Washington Post. In addition, Obama’s Justice Department also used consent decrees, which former Attorney General Jeff Sessions called “one of the most dangerous, and rarely discussed exercises of raw power…”
At the time, Sessions said, “Consent decrees have a profound effect on our legal system as they constitute an end-run around the democratic process.”
Biden’s website said that his theoretical administration will “expand and use the power of the U.S. Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutor’s offices.”
In particular, the website addressed how the Obama administration had used both of the above practices—pattern or practice investigations, as well as consent decrees—in departments such as that in Ferguson, Missouri, which was the scene of violent riots after the death of Michael Brown, shot by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, whose gun he forcibly tried to take after he had robbed a convenience store.
Despite Brown having been involved in a robbery and assault of a convenience store clerk, his shooting sparked days of violence not only in Ferguson but in other cities across the country.
Fox News noted that consent decrees were initially set up in 1992, after the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles after the acquittal of LAPD officers involved in a beating which went viral when it was captured on camera.
Those decrees allow the Department of Justice’s civil rights division to sue police forces in which there is a pattern and practice of violating rights.
Under Obama, two of his attorney generals, Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder [when he wasn’t running guns to Mexican gangs] oversaw nearly two dozen investigations against numerous police agencies.
Conversely under President Trump, the DOJ implemented a more measured, skeptical approach to allegations of systemic racism and reduced the use of consent decrees exponentially—which included putting a limit on the number of decrees which could be issued at the same time.
The death of Floyd last summer once again started the conversation about “systemic police racism” even though it has never been proven. Cries of unarmed black men being gunned down by police has been found to be a myth, as numerous studies by people such as Heather McDonald and even the database kept by The Washington Post have debunked the myth.
That won’t deter Biden or the left-wing Democrats, however.
“Under the Biden Administration, the Justice Department will again use its authority to root out unconstitutional or unlawful policing,” Biden’s website says.
“The Biden administration will reverse the limitations put in place under President Trump, and Biden will appoint Justice Department leadership who will prioritize the role of pattern-or-practice investigations to strengthen our justice system.”
“The Department of Justice must have subpoena power for pattern or practice investigations into systemic misconduct by police departments and force these departments to reform,” Biden “wrote” in a USA Today op-ed in June.
At least he theoretically wrote it.
According to the Post, Biden is also looking to revive the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services under the DOJ, which had used a “collaborative reform” program under Obama, however the program was ended under Trump.
Ironically, community policing models promote the so-called “broken windows” theory of policing, in which police enforce minor crimes, or quality of life crimes, the theory being that if you improve the quality of life in a neighborhood, more serious crime can be avoided.
While Biden has avoided calls from the really far-left wing of the Democrat party who are seeking to defund the police, he has promised to increase police budgets but with strings attached—reforms related to diversity as well as “community policing.”
Of course, depending on what happens next week in Georgia may well determine how radical Biden will get on police reform, as well as what happens on Jan. 6 when Congress is set to certify the election.
Several Republican House members, as well as [so far] one Republican US Senator, Josh Hawley (R-MO) have said they will contest the certifications from a number of states where election fraud has been alleged, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and others.
Of course Georgia is the site of two US Senate races, with incumbents Kelly Loeffler (R) and David Perdue (R) are defending their seats against two far left radicals, Democrats Jon Osoff and Raphael Warnock. If Democrats win and Biden prevails, things will get really bad for law enforcement.
Biden said in leaked audio, “I also don’t think we should get too far ahead ourselves on dealing with police reform in that, because they’ve already labeled us as being ‘defund the police’ on anything we put forward in terms of the organizational structure to change policing—which I promise you, will occur. Promise you,” Biden said to civil rights leaders in the audio, obtained by The Intercept.
“That’s how they beat the living hell out of us across the country, saying that we’re talking about defunding the police We’re not. We’re talking about holding them accountable,” Biden said.
“We’re talking about giving them money to do the right things.”
Biden also told the civil rights leaders to “think about how much do we push between now and Jan. 5” as it concerns police reform. In other words, shut up or people will know what we are up to.
Biden promised to form a “full-blown commission” to examine the issue of police reform.
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