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Title: Want a lawless police force? Federalize it
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opini ... -evidence-fbi-column/26830873/
Published: May 6, 2015
Author: Glenn Harlan Reynolds
Post Date: 2015-05-06 15:51:52 by Jethro Tull
Ping List: *African American Fun*     Subscribe to *African American Fun*
Keywords: None
Views: 52
Comments: 8

Want a lawless police force? Federalize it.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds 1:12 p.m. EDT May 4, 2015

Accountability comes from having law enforcement under multiple umbrellas.

In the wake of the Baltimore riots, Al Sharpton is calling for the federal takeover of local police. Like most ideas from the loathsome Rev. Sharpton, this is a lousy one. But since federalizing local police is actually an Obama administration idea, it's worth paying a bit more attention.

The idea behind federal supervision of local police forces is that it will make them more accountable. Instead of a bunch of presumptively racist, violent hicks running things on a local level, we'll see the cool professionalism of the national government in charge.

There are (at least) two problems with this approach. The first is that federal law enforcement, especially in recent years, hasn't exactly been a haven of cool professionalism. The second is that no law enforcement agency is very good at policing itself, meaning that a national police force is likely to be less accountable, not more. And there's a third problem, too, but we'll get to that in a minute.

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To believe that a federalized approach to policing would be an improvement over the current system, you'd have to ignore an awful lot of misbehavior by federal law enforcement lately. There's the scandal with the Secret Service and hookers just before Obama's trip to Colombia. There's the entirely separate scandal with the Drug Enforcement Agency and hookers (hookers paid for by Colombia drug lords, no less). There's the fact that the Secret Service's hooker-scandal investigator had to resign amid a scandal of his own. There's the Secret Service's alleged attempt to use a fraudulent warrant in an effort to search a house illegally. There are the federal agents charged with stealing Bitcoins during a criminal investigation, and, of course, the laughable inability of the entire Homeland Security apparatus to keep a postal worker's gyrocopter away from the Capitol despite advance notice.

The FBI, meanwhile, used bogus forensic evidence to convict thousands based on the questionable, if not outright dishonest, say-so of its forensic lab, and, most significantly, didn't admit the problem for years, letting many potentially innocent people rot in jail. In one case, a man, Santae Tribble, spent 28 years in prison after FBI analysts said that a single hair found at a crime scene was one of his, when in fact it came from a dog.

They're not very good at keeping up with guns, either. An FBI agent's sniper rifle was stolen from his car days before an Obama visit, and — right under the eyes of Congress — Capitol Police keep leaving their guns in bathrooms — three times this year, including once in House Speaker John Boehner's private bathroom, where the gun was found by a visiting child. Then there's the Capitol Police's questionable shooting of Miriam Carey after she made a U-turn at a checkpoint in D.C.

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Which brings us to the second problem: These police agencies aren't very good at policing themselves. But at least there's the possibility that other police agencies might investigate them more thoroughly. The Secret Service agents in Nashville who requested their phony warrant were busted by the local police chief; the Baltimore police will be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice. But unify all these police agencies under one umbrella and they'll do what guilty bureaucrats tend to do — hide the evidence, then investigate themselves and proclaim themselves blameless.

The third problem with unifying police authority under a national umbrella is that it's much more prone to political abuse by the party in power. As we've seen with the IRS — which, interestingly, shows little interest in frequent White House visitor Al Sharpton's unpaid taxes — federal bureaucrats are all too willing to serve the interests of their political masters even when doing so violates the law. Putting most law enforcement in the hands of diverse state and local authorities helps limit the potential for abuse. Putting everything under federal control, on the other hand, magnifies it.

Instead, if we're really serious about increasing law enforcement accountability, we should end civil service protections for federal employees, while outlawing public employee unions. We should also abolish governmental immunity for federal, state, and local employees, forcing them to face civil lawsuits for illegal behavior, just as the rest of us must do.

Instead of centralizing law enforcement, we should promote decentralization, and accountability. Accountability is a good thing. Sharpton should try it some time.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor, is the author of The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself. Subscribe to *African American Fun*

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#1. To: Jethro Tull (#0)

They'll have a tough time getting this dog to hunt.

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken

Lod  posted on  2015-05-06   16:02:09 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: Jethro Tull (#0)

And in the blink of an eye the Washington State and Colorado marijuana legalization would go up in smoke. Or would federal cops only enforce state laws? How would that work? I can see a lot of opportunities for a clever republican leaning state to monkeywrench this scheme.

corruptissima re publica plurimae leges - Tacitus

Dakmar  posted on  2015-05-06   16:11:33 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: Dakmar, Lod (#2)

And in the blink of an eye the Washington State and Colorado marijuana legalization would go up in smoke. Or would federal cops only enforce state laws? How would that work?

Those are very good points.

Jethro Tull  posted on  2015-05-06   16:22:16 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: Jethro Tull (#0) (Edited)

Putting most law enforcement in the hands of diverse state and local authorities helps limit the potential for abuse. Putting everything under federal control, on the other hand, magnifies it.

Under the new federal police: stolen car? It's a 'civil matter'. House burglary? It's a 'civil matter'. Hit and run? It's a 'civil matter'. Criticizing FedGov? Drone strikes and a followup SWAT inspection to make sure the 'domestic terrorists' are dead......

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“With the exception of Whites, the rule among the peoples of the world, whether residing in their homelands or settled in Western democracies, is ethnocentrism and moral particularism: they stick together and good means what is good for their ethnic group."
-Alex Kurtagic

X-15  posted on  2015-05-06   16:28:53 ET  (1 image) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: X-15 (#4)

They could issue a ticket and check for Obamacare compliance at the same time.

Jethro Tull  posted on  2015-05-06   16:39:05 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: Jethro Tull (#0)

In the wake of the Baltimore riots, Al Sharpton is calling for the federal takeover of local police.

After all, and as we know and realize, once things become federalized they become fair, impartial, civil, and liberty oriented. (sarc)

Katniss  posted on  2015-05-06   19:19:23 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: Dakmar (#2)

And in the blink of an eye the Washington State and Colorado marijuana legalization would go up in smoke. Or would federal cops only enforce state laws? How would that work? I can see a lot of opportunities for a clever republican leaning state to monkeywrench this scheme.

Good point, and if that weren't enough to awaken people to reality, nothing short of nuclear war and its aftermath will do it.

Katniss  posted on  2015-05-06   19:20:17 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: Jethro Tull (#5)

They could issue a ticket and check for Obamacare compliance at the same time.

And probably a free health screening too including full cavity searches, ... for hygiene, of course.

Katniss  posted on  2015-05-06   19:21:30 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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