President Obama’s Justice Department has effectively taken control of police departments across the country by using a sneaky legal trick endorsed by the United Nations.
Incredibly, it has been completed through simple lawsuits.
Placing local enforcement under federal control is much easier than you might think. The Obama administration has done it 26 times using a legal mechanism known as a consent decree, The Washington Post and Lifezette.com reported.
Here is how the process works:
The Justice Department’s civil rights division files a federal lawsuit against a local government, alleging civil or constitutional rights violations. A federal law, the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (42 U.S.C. § 14141), gives the DOJ the power to do this, noted Robert Romano of Americans for Limited Government.
To settle the suit, the local government enters into a special court order, called a consent decree, which puts the DOJ in charge of major aspects of local law enforcement.
“The municipality then simply agrees to the judicial finding — without contest — and the result is a wide-reaching federal court order that imposes onerous regulations on local police,” Romano wrote at Lifezette of the practice. “This makes local police directly answerable to the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ.”
Independent monitors ensure that the decree is being followed. The decree gives the DOJ the power to tell the cop on the beat what to do. For example, it can write policies for departments and require the use of body cameras. The policies can cover everything from training to the use of force.
The investigations often begin after allegations of unlawful arrests, illegal searches and racial profiling, The Post reported.
Incredibly, it has been completed through simple lawsuits.
Placing local enforcement under federal control is much easier than you might think. The Obama administration has done it 26 times using a legal mechanism known as a consent decree, The Washington Post and Lifezette.com reported.
Here is how the process works:
The Justice Department’s civil rights division files a federal lawsuit against a local government, alleging civil or constitutional rights violations. A federal law, the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (42 U.S.C. § 14141), gives the DOJ the power to do this, noted Robert Romano of Americans for Limited Government.
To settle the suit, the local government enters into a special court order, called a consent decree, which puts the DOJ in charge of major aspects of local law enforcement.
“The municipality then simply agrees to the judicial finding — without contest — and the result is a wide-reaching federal court order that imposes onerous regulations on local police,” Romano wrote at Lifezette of the practice. “This makes local police directly answerable to the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ.”
Independent monitors ensure that the decree is being followed. The decree gives the DOJ the power to tell the cop on the beat what to do. For example, it can write policies for departments and require the use of body cameras. The policies can cover everything from training to the use of force.
The investigations often begin after allegations of unlawful arrests, illegal searches and racial profiling, The Post reported.
