Berman Firing

Apparently President Trump and Attorney General Barr continue to subscribe to the outdated notion that dreadful things may be done late on a Friday without incurring unwelcome media attention. Not so any longer.
The attempted corrupt firing of Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who, unlike the Attorney General, has refused to act as a Trump surrogate, has set off yet another firestorm engulfing this administration. The attempt to punish a prosecutor for moving against Trump allies, and to thwart other ongoing investigations must not be allowed to succeed. Congress must launch an immediate investigation, attorneys working under Berman must express their outrage, the public must raise a storm of protest and the media must keep an ongoing focus on this patent assault on the rule of law.

Republicans Announce Police Reform

At a time when bipartisanship is needed more than ever, President Trump and Senator Lindsey Graham, in announcing their pallid responses to police abuse of black citizens, persisted in their untruthful assault on the nation’s only black president.
Their specious claim, that the Obama administration did nothing to prevent racial inequities in policing, is not merely false, it is grossly hypocritical. President Obama, in the wake of the killing of Michael Brown, created a task force of experts to examine and recommend changes to policing in the 21st century. That body issued reports which made major proposals for reform, none of which were acted upon by Mr. Trump (though his just issued executive order borrows some concepts from those proposals),
The Obama Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division launched  numerous investigations into police abuse of minorities, threatened or brought lawsuits and exacted consent decrees which required significant reforms. The Trump administration effectively dismantled the Civil Rights Division and discontinued the use of consent decrees.
President Obama, by executive order, foreclosed the transfer of surplus military equipment by the Pentagon to local police departments.Mr. Trump reversed that order.
Mr. Trump blatantly encouraged police officers to roughly handle those they arrest. Mr. Trump, Sen. Graham, stop lying and dividing, start producing.

Police Reform

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To:

•  oped@nytimes.com
  
  Gov. Andrew Cuomo has challenged the cities and counties of New York State to enact laws reforming (or perpetuating) their police agencies by April 1, 2021 or lose state funding. For New York City, which has the largest, and arguably most troubled, force in the state, this mandate poses an enormous challenge and grand opportunity.
  
  I propose that the city amend its charter to create a new agency empowered and charged to administer the policing function. This Police Commission, if you will, should be comprised of men and women representing the key stakeholders affected by the exercise of the police power. It must include public members appointed by community boards, police officers chosen by the rank and file of their unions and public officials selected by the mayor and presiding justices of the court. The commission should have nine unpaid members, five of whom must be named by a consensus of the community board in each borough, two by the police union membership and one each by the mayor and presiding justice.
  
  This body must be invested with the authority to set and oversee policing policies and practices, disciplinary procedures and range of punishment, hiring and training standards, budget formulation and equipment requirements and prohibitions. The commission must be provided with a paid, full-time staff, headed by an executive director of its choosing, to carry out the policies adopted by the commission and, with the aid of subpoena power, to investigate and report on instances of abuse and corruption. The commission should have authority to refer the findings it accepts to the state's attorney-general for prosecution when appropriate or to initiate disciplinary proceedings.
  
  The commission should meet regularly and hold frequent public hearings. It should propose further legislation delineating areas of public concern better removed from the policing function and delegated, instead, to other agencies best suited to address the needs of affected individuals.
  
  The police force would continue to be managed on a day to day basis by its hierarchy of ranking officers answerable to a police administrator chosen by, serving at the pleasure of and subject to the directives of the Police Commission. While the specific mechanics described here may well be modified and improved upon, it is essential that the basic concept, of a collaboratively led department with strong representation from affected communities be preserved and implemented.

Reforming the Police Department

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has challenged the cities and counties of New York State to enact laws reforming (or perpetuating) their police agencies by April 1, 2021 or lose state funding. For New York City, which has the largest, and arguably most troubled, force in the state, this mandate poses an enormous challenge and grand opportunity.

I propose that the city amend its charter to create a new agency empowered and charged to administer the policing function. This Police Commission, if you will, should be comprised of men and women representing the key stakeholders affected by the exercise of the police power. It must include public members appointed by community boards, police officers chosen by the rank and file of their unions and public officials selected by the mayor and presiding justices of the court. The commission should have nine unpaid members, five of whom must be named by a consensus of the community board in each borough, two by the police union membership and one each by the mayor and presiding justice.

This body must be invested with the authority to set and oversee policing policies and practices, disciplinary procedures and range of punishment, hiring and training standards, budget formulation and equipment requirements and prohibitions. The commission must be provided with a paid, full-time staff, headed by an executive director of its choosing, to carry out the policies adopted by the commission and, with the aid of subpoena power, to investigate and report on instances of abuse and corruption. The commission should have authority to refer the findings it accepts to the state's attorney-general for prosecution when appropriate or to initiate disciplinary proceedings.

The commission should meet regularly and hold frequent public hearings. It should propose further legislation delineating areas of public concern better removed from the policing function and delegated, instead, to other agencies best suited to address the needs of affected individuals.

The police force would continue to be managed on a day to day basis by its hierarchy of ranking officers answerable to a police administrator chosen by, serving at the pleasure of and subject to the directives of the Police Commission.

Gleeson Charges Justice Department With Gross Abuse In Flynn Case

Some in the media are mischaracterizing the role of former federal judge John Gleeson, who just filed a brief in opposition to the DOJ's motion to dismiss the case against Michael Flynn. Mr. Gleeson is not a "neutral arbiter" charged with assessing the merits of the DOJ's motion. He was appointed to act as an advocate for upholding Flynn's conviction, a role the DOJ abandoned when it joined forces with Flynn's defense team.

What is significant about Mr. Gleeson's brief, is its assertion that the DOJ's motion to dismiss is pretextual and is, in fact, a politically motivated, corrupt attempt to spare an ally of President Trump from bearing the consequences of his confessed crimes. The sentencing judge, Emmet G. Sullivan, should deny the DOJ's motion to dismiss, impose an appropriate sentence and initiate an inquiry into the circumstances of the DOJ's misrepresentations to the court.

New York Should End the Curfew

Imposing a curfew in New York City was a mistake and it should be ended forthwith. The curfew has been counterproductive in several respects. It has increased violent confrontations between police and protesters, diverted police manpower that could be better utilized to prevent looting and has punished innocent persons who have business being on the street at night.
Instead of using thousands of officers to trail after, and ultimately entrap, protesters, a fraction of that force could be far more effectively deployed protecting businesses likely to be vandalized. The rest could be given much needed time off and the city budget would be spared the enormous cost of this unnecessary operation.

Barr Gave The Order

William Barr has been masquerading as Attorney General of the United States. Now he can be seen in his true role; President Trump’s Roy Cohn and Bull Connor in one person.
In his guise as Attorney General he has done everything his client, Mr. Trump could have wished for. He corruptly misdescribed the Mueller Report, falsely gave credence to Trump’s claim of FBI spying, initiated reinvestigation of the investigators, interfered to lighten the sentence facing Roger Stone and is attempting to clear an admitted felon, Michael Flynn.
Now he has taken charge of the defense of the White House against the threat posed by those protesting police brutality.
Leaving the “vicious dogs” in their pound, and without donning a police chief’s uniform, Mr. Barr directed an indefensible assault on peaceful protesters in order to clear a path for Mr. Trump to stride fearlessly through Lafayette Park for a photo op in front of a church he never attends holding a bible he never reads.