Louisiana Weekly

THE LOUISIANA WEEKLY - YOUR MULTICULTURAL MEDIUM Page 2 December 25 - December 31, 2023 Biden commutes sentences and pardons marijuana offenses in sweeping criminal justice reform Justice Department creates database to track records of misconduct by federal law enforcement ment agencies that use that data- base as part of their employment vetting process, officials said. Reform advocates have issued calls for a national system to track officer misconduct in part to address officers who are fired or resign and who then jump to other police departments sometimes in different states often because a full accounting of alleged miscon- duct records isn’t available. There have been a handful of recent examples of officers fired for high-profile police misconduct at local departments including fatal shootings who were then hired by police departments in different states or, in some cases, the same state. Myles Cosgrove, the former Louisville Metro Police Department officer who was fired in January 2021 for violating use- of-force procedures and failing to use a body camera during the fatal raid on Breonna Taylor’s apart- ment, was hired earlier this year by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department in Kentucky. In 2022, Timothy Loehmann, the former Cleveland police offi- cer who was fired after the fatal 2014 shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, was hired by a small Pennsylvania town to be its only police officer. He resigned from the job amid public outrage.◊ largely responsible for determin- ing training standards and disci- plinary decisions. Several state legislatures have created statewide databases in recent years to track disciplinary misconduct and officer decertifica- tion, which happens when a state licensing body revokes the certifi- cation or license required to be a law enforcement officer in that state. But few of those state data- bases are open to the public, and few are shared between states. The International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training has also created a national repository for officer decertification that boasts more than 53,000 records from 49 state agencies. However, provid- ing the records and using the records is voluntary and the data- base does not include any other disciplinary measures such as fir- ings or suspensions. The federal government is trying to encourage more states and local agencies to participate in the National Decertification Index by giving priority consideration when handing out grants to law enforce- By Claudia Lauer and Alanna Durkin Ricker AP Writers (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has created a data- base to track records of miscon- duct by federal law enforcement officers that is aimed at prevent- ing agencies from unknowingly hiring problem officers, officials said last week. The federal move is a step toward accountability amid growing calls to close loopholes that allow law enforcement officers to be rehired by other agencies after losing their jobs or resigning after misconduct allegations. The creation of the data- base was part of President Joe Biden’s May 2022 executive order on policing, which included dozens of measures aimed at increasing accountability for federal law enforcement officers. “This database will ensure that records of serious misconduct by federal law enforcement officers are readily available to agencies considering hiring those officers,” Biden said in a statement. But the database, which will only contain records for federal officers and not be open to the public, falls short of the national misconduct database called for by some police reform advocates. The National Law Enforcement Accountability Database current- ly includes only former and cur- rent Justice Department officers who have records of serious mis- conduct over the last seven years. It will be expanded in the next two months to capture other fed- eral law enforcement agencies such as the Secret Service and United States Park Police, a Justice Department official said. Attorney General Merrick Garland said it will give federal agencies “an important new tool for vetting and hiring officers and agents that will help strengthen our efforts” to build and retain the public’s trust. “No law enforcement agency – including the Justice Department – can effectively do its work without the trust of the public,” Garland said in an emailed statement. Federal agencies will be respon- sible for reporting and updating records for officers who faced criminal convictions, civil judg- ments, terminations, suspensions, resigning or retiring while under investigation and sustained com- plaints or disciplinary actions for serious misconduct, officials said. Serious misconduct includes excessive force, obstruction of jus- tice, findings of bias or discrimina- tion, making a false report, making a false statement under oath, theft and sexual misconduct. The database is currently only accessible by Justice Department employees and will eventually be expanded to allow access by users in other federal law enforcement agencies, as well as state and local law enforcement agencies, a Justice Department official said. The Bureau of Justice Statistics will produce an annual public report on the database, but the report will not include individual incident data and will be anonymized to protect the privacy of officers, officials said. The majority of police interac- tions happen at the state and local level, but policing is decentral- ized with states and departments Group pushes for change in how police use body camera footage in officer shooting probes could hasten that process, Wexler said. The research forum is now recommending a hybrid approach where officers give an early interview before watching the video, then come back and give more information during investigations of shootings or other uses of force. Lorie Fridell, professor emeri- ta of criminology at University of South Florida, supports that approach. Memories are imper- fect, but cameras don’t always capture every angle and nuance, either. “We have the officers’ perceptions and memories, which are fallible, and we have the body camera documentation, which is also fallible,” she said. Kevin Davis, chief of Fairfax County police in Virginia, also sees virtue in taking officers’ statements before showing them the footage. “For the sake of community trust and transparency, why not do it that way?” Davis asked.◊ By Lindsay Whitehurst AP Writer (AP) — An influential policing think tank is pushing law enforce- ment agencies to change how they handle body camera footage after police shootings, saying officers should not be able to review video before making their first state- ments to investigators. The Police Executive Research Forum changed its position in a report released Friday, nearly 10 years after the group was first tapped by the Justice Department to write guidelines for agencies adopting body cameras. The technology has swept the country’s police since. Now 79 percent of the country’s local police work in departments that use them. They’re in use in all cities of more than 1 million peo- ple, and Portland, Oregon, became the latest major city to adopt them in November. “Having a body camera in your department is now expected,” said Chuck Wexler, the group’s executive director. The technology has been key in cases like the death of Tyre Nichols, where body camera footage showed how he was brutally beaten by Memphis, Tennessee, police who are now facing criminal charges. Still, research on whether body cameras reduce police use of force overall have been mixed. Half of studies reviewed by the group showed officers with cameras tend to use force less often, but the rest of the studies showed no difference. The report that came out last Friday, an advance copy of which was provided exclusively to The Associated Press , also said departments should have clear policies on the release of video footage to the public. Of the 127 agencies it reviewed, only 14 percent had specific policies for releasing body cam- era footage of critical incidents. The adoption of body cameras by police departments around the country increased sharply during the national outpouring of protest after the 2014 death of Michael Brown at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri. “There was a lot of faith put in body cameras as a silver bullet to some of the problems that many police departments have,” said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union. “But a lot of that promise has not been fulfilled,.” Allowing officers to view body-camera footage before speaking to investigators can allow their stories to change to fit the video, either though lying or subconscious distortion of how they recall the event. “Policies like this one undercut the oversight function that the tool is supposed to play,” Stanley said. Agencies have already been moving away from allowing viewing footage ahead of time, and the new recommendation By Stacy M. Brown Contributing Writer (NNPA Newswire) — In what the White House called a decisive move echoing the core tenet of equal justice under law, President Joe Biden announced a set of sub- stantial clemency actions aimed at addressing glaring disparities with- in the U.S. criminal justice system. The president, underscoring bipar- tisan consensus on the need for a fair and unbiased legal framework, declared a series of important measures toward realizing the promise of equal justice in American communities. “I am announcing additional steps I am taking to make the promise of equal justice a reality,” Biden declared, emphasizing that equal justice is a “foundational principle on which America was built.” The first measure involves com- muting sentences for 11 individuals serving extended terms for non-vio- lent drug offenses. Among the notable cases receiving commuta- tions are Darryl Allen Winkfield of Augusta, Ga., Leroy Lymons of Pensacola, Fla., and Earlie Deacon Barber of Dothan, Ala., each of whom was sentenced to life in prison. Winkfield was convicted in 1998 of conspiracy to distribute and to possess cocaine. Biden commuted the sentence, leaving intact a 10- year probation when Winkfield is released in April 2024. In 2012, Lymons was sentenced to life for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distrib- ute five kilograms or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine. The commutation clears Lymons for release after 27 years. In 2009, Barber was sentenced in Alabama for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms of a mixture and substance containing cocaine base. He will now be released in April 2024, with a remaining 10 years of supervised probation. In the president’s words, these individuals “would have been eligible for reduced sentences” under current standards. He said the move underscores his admin- istration’s commitment to recti- fying outdated and unjust sen- tencing practices. Drawing attention to the crack- to-powder sentencing disparity, Biden noted that he supports initia- tives to eliminate the sentencing difference, asserting that it “does not advance public safety.” He said the move aligns with his broader push for criminal justice reform. “I have exercised my clemency power more than any recent prede- cessor has at this point in their presidency,” Biden stated. “And while today’s announcement marks important progress, my administra- tion will continue to review clemency petitions and deliver reforms that advance equal justice, address racial disparities, strength- en public safety, and enhance the wellbeing of all Americans.” The White House insisted that law enforcement and experts now recognize that the crack-to-powder sentencing disparity is not support- ed by science, does not advance public safety, and disproportionate- ly impacts Black communities. Administration officials said Attorney General Merrick Garland has also expressed support for eliminating the crack-to-powder sentencing disparity and has direct- ed federal prosecutors to promote the equivalent treatment of crack and powder cocaine offenses. “As the president proposed as a senator in 2007, a fair criminal justice system requires that Congress end, once and for all, this unjust and racially discrimi- natory sentencing disparity,” the White House said in a statement. “And Congress must make these changes fully retroactive.” Building on his previous pardon of simple possession offenses, Biden added, “It’s time that we right these wrongs.” The move extends to marijuana offenses committed on certain federal lands, encapsulating a comprehensive approach to mari- juana reform, to which the presi- dent also signed a proclamation to pardon additional offenses related to the use and possession of mari- juana under federal and D.C. law. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time that we right these wrongs,” Biden insisted. “Just as no one should be in a fed- eral prison solely due to the use or possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either. That’s why I continue to urge governors to do the same with regard to state offenses and applaud those who have since taken action.”◊