On @NewsHour @JudyWoodruff expresses frustration and asks what can be done to bring change to policing. Let's be clear that we had just begun to make steps on the long path to change when Trump came in and Sessions & then Barr removed the DOJ as leader in pushing that change.
Instead the President announced a new day - in his rhetoric giving aid & comfort to the kind of brutal policing Pres. Obama rejected. Sessions & then Barr ceased pattern & practice investigations. President Obama's 21st Century Policing Rpt is collecting dust on a DOJ shelf.
The DOJ can powerfully shape policing in this country b/c they give our billions in grants to local police departments. The Minneapolis has received $6.4 million from the DOJ COPS program since 2009. In short, the feds have abandoned any role in policing reform.
This doesn't mean that reform is not happening. But it's been left to grassroots activists and civil rights lawyers working at the local level. It's slower. And harder. The AG has the bully pulpit and the DOJ has the money.
AG Barr has chosen "respect for police" as the issue for his bully pulpit. In January he suggested that if communities didn't show respect for police they wouldn't get the protection they want. A terrible statement. So I'd like to see some attention on Barr's failure here.
