Nation's Police Chiefs Disagree With Trump's New Tough On Crime Executive Orders

from the unless-worse-policing-is-what's-desired... dept

Fri, Feb 17th 2017 9:47am — Tim Cushing

President Trump's three new law-and-order Executive Orders are designed to combat a largely-nonexistent crime wave and increase protections for one of the most-heavily protected groups in America: law enforcement officers. The orders also mixed crime prevention and national security into a single bowl, making criminal activity inseparable from threats to the nation -- especially if foreigners are involved. In addition to his travel ban and his Two Minutes Hate reporting system, Trump also singled out illegal immigrants in these "law and order" orders, implying that they were to blame for much of the perceived crime problem.

That's in addition to some off-the-cuff remarks Trump made during a meeting with several sheriffs, where he suggested there was no need to reform asset forfeiture and joked that those pushing reform efforts should have their careers ruined by the nation's top (proxy) cop: Donald Trump.

The president may unequivocally have law enforcement's back for the next four years (at minimum), but the nation's top cops don't have his. Or, at the very least, they don't agree with Trump's hardline, anti-crime, pro-cop-always stance. In a report [PDF] filled with suggestions for the new president, a coalition of police chiefs, district attorneys (including Manhattan decrypto warrior Cyrus Vance), and other police officials agree that the ideas Trump is pushing so far are only going to make the nation's policing -- and the nation's relationship with police -- worse.

While Trump has been calling for longer sentences, increased law enforcement presence, and projected a zero tolerance approach to everything until crime rates lower (or at least his perception of crime rates -- the stats don't back up his claims), this group says throwing the book at everyone is just going to perpetuate criminal activity.

We urge the Administration and Congress to carefully consider new crime policies, and adopt and support those that fight crime effectively. Decades of experience have convinced us of a sobering reality: today’s crime policies, which too often rely only on jail and prison, are simply ineffective in preserving public safety. We need not use arrest, conviction, and prison as the default response for every broken law. For many nonviolent and first-time offenders, prison is not only unnecessary from a public safety standpoint, it also endangers our communities.

Once inmates are released, they struggle to find employment, housing, and other necessities that would re-integrate them into society. Facing few legitimate opportunities, many ex-offenders return to crime. The higher the incarceration rate for such offenders, the less safe the citizenry. We must instead consider those policies that better preserve public safety. Dangerous, violent offenders should be behind bars, but incarceration is not necessarily the best tool to put non-violent offenders back on the road to productive, law-abiding lives.

The report also points out that throwing money at the problem hasn't helped either. Money is useful, but only if it's spent on useful activities.

Each year, the federal government spends billions in criminal justice grants to support overwhelmed police department and government budgets. For example, the Department of Justice offered $5.5 billion in grants to local agencies in 2016. These dollars fund law enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute crimes. However, to a large degree, these outlays are not targeted at fighting violent and serious crime. In fact, some of these dollars are expended on antiquated law enforcement tools, such as dragnet enforcement of lower-level offenses. This misses an opportunity to prioritize resources towards more effective ways of fighting violent and serious crime in the states. Without such change, states will continue inefficient enforcement techniques.

Also discussed are sentencing reform, increased efforts to better deal with drug addicts and the mentally ill (something that doesn't involve regular deployments of force/jail time) and a heavier focus on community policing. What it doesn't contain are suggestions to roll back all of this to the mid-80s and pretend we have something like a crack epidemic to attend to. The conclusory paragraph says -- contrary to Trump's viewpoint -- that efforts in these areas will result in better law enforcement and safer communities.

But while many police officials and prosecutors disagree with Trump, police unions disagree with police officials (and prosecutors) -- albeit without going through the trouble of producing a report that explains their side of things.

“I can promise that if we have a president who is speaking about protecting the lives of police officers, that the membership is going to be supportive of him,” said Chuck Canterbury, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police. “No police officer took an oath that said, ‘I agree to support and defend the Constitution and to get my butt whipped.’” Michael A. Ramos, the president of the National District Attorneys Association and the chief prosecutor in San Bernardino County, Calif., hailed the shift in emphasis, saying the pendulum had swung “way too far” toward being “soft on crime.”

These comments are illuminating. In both cases, constitutionally-adherent policing is viewed as "soft." That's how far the pendulum has actually swung, despite Ramos' assertion to the contrary. Many police officers act as though the Constitution only applies to people they never interact with. For everyone else, their rights are whatever rights the officer feels they have at the time. As long as these rights don't prevent them from doing what they want, citizens are free to enjoy them. If not, take the complaint to court where various levels of immunity will routinely allow Constitutional violations to go unpunished.

A long list of DOJ investigations confirm law enforcement's generally negative attitude towards the people they police. First, an "us vs. them" attitude dehumanizes anyone not wearing a badge. Effective policing is unconstitutional policing, and cops aren't going to let a bunch of rights get in the way of cracking heads and asserting their authority. Undoubtedly, officials like Canterbury and Ramos view sentencing reform, community policing, curbing non-essential arrests, handling mental illness with more care, etc. as "soft" as well. And the new president appears to be onboard with this backwards thinking -- where adhering to the Constitution is a luxury a supposedly-besieged law enforcement community can no longer afford.

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Filed Under: donald trump, executive order, law and order, law enforcement, police chiefs

33 Comments

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Jinxed (profile), 17 Feb 2017 @ 10:07am

Techdirt is going to be very busy for the next four years.

We may even get to see new writers, because it's looking awfully difficult to keep up with Trump.
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Roger Strong (profile), 17 Feb 2017 @ 10:13am

Re:
It's like a distributed denial-of-service attack on fact checkers.
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Baron von Robber, 17 Feb 2017 @ 10:14am

Drumpf: The Art of Accelerating a Police State.
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Jinxed (profile), 17 Feb 2017 @ 10:20am

Re: Re:
As well as common sense.
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Baron von Robber, 17 Feb 2017 @ 10:37am

Re: Re: Re:
It's a bit like Eddie Izzard's joke about mass murderers.
Tell one lie, they out you and shame you.
Tell three lies, they start to wonder about you.
Tell ten lies, they won't vote for you.
Tell hundereds of lies, non-stop, morons will vote for you.
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stosh, 17 Feb 2017 @ 10:58am

Crackdown on crime just because Chiraq has more shootings than Iraq, perish the thought, it's a perfectly normal situation.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2017 @ 11:10am

Re:
Wrong.

The police state is already hear, he is just making it worse.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2017 @ 11:12am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Exactly!

That is how Clinton, Bush, Obama, AND Trump all got into office. Professional liars and a sea full of sheeple to buy them!
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Thad, 17 Feb 2017 @ 11:21am

Re: Re:
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/accelerate
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Roger Strong (profile), 17 Feb 2017 @ 11:21am

Re:
ABC7 I-Team Investigation: Despite 'Chiraq' label, data show Chicago not even close to Iraq

In that same nine year period when 4,265 citizens were killed in Chicago, there were almost 30 times as many citizens killed in Iraq. Last year, there were 459 murders in Chicago. In Iraq, there were more than 17,000. Last weekend in Chicago, there were seven murders. In Iraq, there were 103. And Iraq's murders have been doubling year to year, unlike Chicago's murder rate that has been cut in half since 1991.

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Thad, 17 Feb 2017 @ 11:24am

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I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you didn't read past the headline.
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Thad, 17 Feb 2017 @ 11:26am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Sheeple?

Clearly you are a serious person with serious ideas.
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Vidiot (profile), 17 Feb 2017 @ 11:37am

Mr. Brightside
So it seems to have taken the election of The Great Orange One to actually get a broad LE group to coalesce around a cause, and to make a unified, positive statement about needless incarceration and community relations. Wish we could have arrived here without electing a madman.

We've been looking for a silver lining since last November, and there probably isn't one; but maybe we can fabricate one out of little scraps of foil like this.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2017 @ 12:11pm

Re: Re: Re:
Well congratulations Thad.

I agree with you here... I did stick my foot in my mouth.

Sorry about that Baron von Robber!
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2017 @ 12:14pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
As an independent watching the masses worship their political parties regardless of wrong doing... well who knows? But I do know this. The continue bitching and moaning each party participates in against the one when they are every bit as complicit as those they accuse has gotten tiresome.

Anything can sound like a good idea... like say Democracy. It "sounds" like a good idea... until you are in the minority then all of a sudden Democracy sounds like utter shit!
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2017 @ 12:20pm

Re: Mr. Brightside
I think you are way off base.

There may still be a few decent officers of the law out there, but by and large, the corrupt police state will be largely on Trump's side. They really don't give a shit about anything, other than to find a way to raise the status of police officers above that of citizens.

If you want police to start really bitching, start enforcing the law on them when they trample a citizens rights.
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jupiterkansas (profile), 17 Feb 2017 @ 12:27pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yeah, but they were all much better liars than Trump.
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murgatroyd (profile), 17 Feb 2017 @ 12:39pm

Re: Mr. Brightside
If this is the "silver lining", I'm really in favor of trying to find a different dark cloud.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2017 @ 12:43pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Sheeple... Bingo!
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2017 @ 12:44pm

Re:
Damn, it must hurt to be that wrong. Do tell us how it makes you feel.
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Baron von Robber, 17 Feb 2017 @ 1:01pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Drumpf's lies are multiple times more numerous, but fortunately, very very stupid ones that are easily checked.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2017 @ 1:34pm

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Says you... I had zero difficulty seeing through the lies.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2017 @ 1:40pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Agree, I think Trump has been so used to being in a position of power where he had his lies rarely challenged.

Now that he is used to it, he can shake off the usual bullshit from the media and it seems to not phase him.

I think most people getting bent over it are beginning to harm themselves. Politicians just fucking lie, it's their bread and butter and as you can see from his supporters his lies harm him very little, which incidentally is not a problem unique to Trumps supporters. Obama and Hillary has the same number of fruitcakes giving them a passes as well.

But I think I will agree with you that they were much better at the lying than Trump.
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Roger Strong (profile), 17 Feb 2017 @ 1:46pm

Re: Re:
He was wrong, but not that wrong.

Iraq has 14x the population of Chicago. Multiply Chicago's stats by that number and you get:

Last year, there were 6,426 murders in Chicago. In Iraq, there were more than 17,000. Last weekend in Chicago, there were 98 murders. In Iraq, there were 103.

That's getting into the same ballpark. On the other hand if Chicago's murder rate has been cut in half since 1991, you'd probably want to "stay the course" rather than make "big crackdown" for show.
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trump vader, 17 Feb 2017 @ 1:50pm

this article solves the whole issue
if your more likely to reoffend then all crime must bve life in prison then there can be no more threat to anyone....heck we can just work them to death at what the h1b visas do OR other mexican slave labour does and as laws are so many and vague YOU WILL BE EVENTUALLY ALL PRISONERS OF THE CORPORATE OVERLORDS MUHAHAHAHAH

just watch escape from new york ...that is where it all leads
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2017 @ 2:48pm

Re:
You mean 8?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2017 @ 2:52pm

Re:
Td becomes like that failing sewer plant down the street. Stinks more and more, and you just get used to it to the point of ignoring daily.
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Thad, 17 Feb 2017 @ 3:13pm

Re: Re:
So when are you going to start ignoring it, then?
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2017 @ 12:15am

Re: Re:
Now if only there was some difference in the size of their populace.....
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Video Oh Yes, 18 Feb 2017 @ 12:50am

Thats interesting nice article...
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Wendy Cockcroft, 20 Feb 2017 @ 2:11am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
If that's true what should we replace it with? We've already got tyranny in a limited democracy where the two parties get votes on the basis that they're the least worst option. I say give us more democracy and more choices.

The checks and balances in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights prevent the "tyranny of the majority" strawman from becoming a reality.

So what, then, would you bring to the table as an alternative, AC?
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Wendy Cockcroft, 20 Feb 2017 @ 2:15am

Re: Re:
If you want to "correct" the writers so they write articles more to your liking, what should they write? I have a few headline suggestions:

* We thank thee O our Trump

* Rescue the sheriffing

* The Halle-yuge-la chorus

I'm sure our beloved bretheren on the admin team will think of others. For the greater good (the greater good).
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2017 @ 6:07am

Lies Lies Lies
Actions speak louder than lies.

Let's quit talking about lies and look at what the individuals do (not what they say).
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