The Biden Justice Department’s decision to revert to the Obama administration’s heavy use of assent regulations has been criticized by law enforcement officials and attorneys who fear it will hinder the police force and affect relations between the police and the community.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Justice Department will conduct a civil “patron or practice” investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department following George Floyd’s death.
Garland’s announcement came the day after a Minneapolis jury convicted Derek Chauvin of second-degree murder in Floyd’s death.
The attorney general said at a news conference that the investigation was opened to address “systemic police problems” and will investigate whether the Minneapolis police have a “pattern or practice of unconstitutional or illegal police work.”
AFTER DEREK CHAUVIN VERDICT, GARLAND DOJ ANNOUNCES MINNEAPOLIS POLICING PROBE
Garland’s announcement marks the department’s first step to return to the Obama administration’s progressive reform agenda and the intensive use of assent regulations.
The Obama-era approach came under harsh criticism from former President Trump’s DOJ, who said consent decisions were overused and a damaging federal breach of law enforcement. In 2018, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a memo directing the agency to sharply restrict its use.
Last week, Garland retracted the Trump-era memo, making it easier for the Biden DOJ to use consent decisions as an enforcement tool.
Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund and former deputy commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department, told Fox News that while Biden’s decision to reverse the memo is “no surprise,” the move is problematic for law enforcement.
Johnson said that while some law enforcement agencies need top-to-bottom reforms, including the Baltimore Police Department, which signed a consent decree with DOJ in 2017 following the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, the problem is that the consent itself decides. are harmful.
Since a DOJ pattern or field trial that results in a court decision to bind consent usually takes years, it can be destructive to police officers trying to do their day-to-day work and also erode public confidence in law enforcement.
Under a federal investigation, police officers will “feel micromanaged and criticized,” Johnson said. “They will feel unappreciated. They will feel that the solutions are worse than the disease.”
He explained, “If the solution is that cops cannot do their job and violence increases, and that is the likely consequence when cops cannot do their job, then the treatment is worse than the disease.”
Spokesperson Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith told Fox News, “The National Police Association opposes these consent regulations that reduce officer safety and, very often, increase the dangers criminals pose to the community.”
Smith explained that because law enforcement officials are paralyzed by consent decisions, they can inadvertently give criminals more leeway to commit crimes and endanger the community.
Smith also called Garland’s announcement Wednesday to open an investigation into the Minneapolis police department “irresponsible and dangerous” over the politicization of the Chauvin case.
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“The current action of the Attorney General seems quite punitive, based on Chauvin’s judgment yesterday. And even before the verdict, it was so politicized. decide situation. ”
The director of the National Association of Police Organizations, Bill Johnson, told Fox News he was “reviewing the attorney general’s announcement.”
Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.