Will Eric Holder Charge David Petraeus? | Meet The Press
Attorney General Eric Holder refused to answer if he had made a final decision about whether former CIA Director David Petraeus should be charged with mishan...
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Will Eric Holder Charge David Petraeus? | Meet The Press - Video
Attorney General Eric Holder concerned about "LoneWolf" attacks in U.S. - LoneWolf Sager
Attorney General Eric Holder expressed concerns Sunday about al Qaeda-affiliated militants carrying out lone wolf attacks in the U.S. "Happy New Year To All ...
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Attorney General Eric Holder concerned about "LoneWolf" attacks in U.S. - LoneWolf Sager - Video
Attorney General Holder Announces New AMBER Alert Partnerships with Facebook and Bing
Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the Department of Justice is partnering with Facebook and Bing in order to expand the reach of the AMBER Alert systeman early warning system...
By: The Justice Department
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Attorney General Holder Announces New AMBER Alert Partnerships with Facebook and Bing - Video
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said he wants the use of force by police and attacks on officers to be tracked nationwide as a way to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the communities they protect.
This would represent a commonsense step that would begin to address serious concerns about police officer safety, as well as the need to safeguard civil liberties, he said at a speech Thursday in Washington.
Holders announcement comes as the Obama administration is seeking ways to ease tensions between citizens and law enforcement after a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, in August and the death of another unarmed black man in police custody in New York. Both incidents sparked demonstrations, some of them violent, across the country including one today in Washington.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation currently tracks justifiable homicides by police, though the tally doesnt include nonlethal police shootings or other use of force in which the victim survives. The data is provided voluntarily by local departments so not all of them participate.
The FBI also tracks when police officers are killed or attacked on the job. That data is also incomplete since its provided voluntarily.
Holder said that because many jurisdictions dont provide such data because the reporting remains optional and department may lack sufficient incentives.
This strikes many, including me, as unacceptable, Holder said in his remarks. Fixing this is an idea that we should all be able to unite behind.
In response to the protests, President Barack Obama has convened a panel to address distrust of police among minorities, and said he would ask Congress to fund a community-policing package that would help supply as many as 50,000 body-worn cameras for officers.
The Justice Department is investigating the case involving the 18-year-old in Ferguson as well the death of a 43-year-old man in police custody on Staten Island. Local grand juries declined to indict the officers involved in those incidents.
To contact the reporter on this story: Annie Linskey in Washington at alinskey@bloomberg.net
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Holder Wants Better Tracking on Police Use of Force
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- The United States must do a better job of tracking killings by police officers and the killings of police officers, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday.
In a speech at a Martin Luther King Jr. birthday memorial event, Holder attempted to bridge the divide between protesters angry at police-involved killings, especially those of unarmed black men, and police who say they are risking their lives with insufficient support.
"The troubling reality is that we lack the ability right now to comprehensively track the number of incidents of either uses of force directed at police officers or uses of force by police," he said. "This strikes many -- including me -- as unacceptable. Fixing this is an idea that we should all be able to unite behind."
The failure of grand juries to indict the officers believed responsible for the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and the chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York City set off a wave of protests. On Thursday, which would have been King's 85th birthday, protesters held sit-ins on Interstate 93 north and south of Boston, snarling rush hour traffic.
Police have also protested. In New York, officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio at ceremonies after two officers were shot by a man apparently angry over the killing of Williams and Garner.
The FBI records both police deaths and police-involved killings but depends on voluntary reports from law enforcement agencies. Those have a tendency only to report killings found to be "justifiable."
Congress recently approved a bill that would require all deaths during or after arrests to be reported to the federal government.
Holder said his brother is a retired police officer.
"In short, they are true American heroes -- whose patriotism, integrity, and commitment to the highest standards of excellence are simply beyond question. I know this," he said. "And I have been troubled and deeply disturbed by recent mischaracterizations of this administration's regard for those who wear the badge."
A preliminary report released late last year showed a significant increase in police deaths in the line of duty in 2014 over the previous year. But the report said deaths in both years were low by historical standards and shootings of police officers have declined sharply since their high in the 1970s.
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Holder: U.S. needs better data on killings of and by police