OFF THE WIRE
arack Obama is a huge fan of power. He believes power is a good thing. And there is no such thing as too much of a good thing.
Obama wants the power to effectively repeal deportation laws. He wants the power to hire terrorists. He wants the power to determine foreign elections. He wants the power to determine what we teach, what we eat and what bullets we own.
Now, according to al.com, Obama wants to control the local police.
Obama’s Department of Justice announced last week the six cities that will serve as national pilot sites of a $4.7 million National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice. The six cities are Ft. Worth, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Stockton, Birmingham and Gary, Indiana.
Attorney General Eric Holder described the initiative as a partnership between federal officials and criminal justice experts providing training, policy and research to address distrust between citizens and law enforcement. (H/T Al.com)
Birmingham officials expressed delight in the takeover. “We are truly
honored that DOJ would select Birmingham as one of six national pilot
sites,” said Birmingham police Chief A.C. Roper.
“We’re all aware of the modern day issues and national discussion on policing in America,” declared an observant Roper.
Roper feels Birmingham needs help from the federal government to gain
trust from its citizens, “Although we’ve worked extremely hard
building bridges in our communities we saw this initiative as an
opportunity to strengthen relationships, increase public cooperation,
and improve the perception of police legitimacy across our city.”
“We truly recognize that the Birmingham Police Department cannot be
successful without community support and community trust. This three
year project will allow us to serve as a national police model and
increase our capacity to serve our citizens,” said Roper.
While we can appreciate Roper’s concern about the public image of the
police, we are deeply concerned that he believes turning to the federal
government of Obama and Holder is a move in the right direction.
