Attorney General Q A | DOJ excessive force investigation of Cleveland Police
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Attorney General Eric Holder answer questions at a press conference presenting findings of the Department of Justice have a pattern of unreasonable use of...
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Attorney General Q&A | DOJ excessive force investigation of Cleveland Police - Video
In the wake of clashes at protests in Ferguson, Missouri, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says new Justice Department guidance will aim to end racial profiling and ensure fair and effective policing.
Holder said in a speech Monday at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor that he will unveil details of the plan soon.
"In the coming days, I will announce updated Justice Department guidance regarding profiling by federal law enforcement. This will institute rigorous new standards and robust safeguards to help end racial profiling, once and for all," Holder said. "This new guidance will codify our commitment to the very highest standards of fair and effective policing."
The president instructed Holder to hold regional meetings on building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve after the conflicts in Ferguson. Monday's meeting in Atlanta was the first.
Tensions between police and the community in Ferguson boiled over after a white police officer shot an unarmed black teenager in August. Protests turned violent again last week, after a grand jury declined to indict officer Darren Wilson in Michael Brown's death.
During Holder's speech, he was interrupted by about a dozen or so protesters holding signs and chanting "No justice, no peace." Holder let them continue for about two minutes before they were escorted out by security, but then later said, "Let me make one thing clear, I ain't mad at cha," referencing the song by the late rapper Tupac.
"It is through that level of involvement, that level of concern, and I hope a level of perseverance and commitment, that change ultimately will come," Holder said of the protesters.
First published December 1 2014, 6:47 PM
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Eric Holder Announces Justice Department Plan to Target ...
Attorney General Eric Holder has begun drafting plans to continue his work rebuilding the relationship between local law enforcement and the black community after he leaves public office next year.
This whole notion of reconciliation between law enforcement and communities of color is something that I really want to focus on and to do so in a very organized way, he said Tuesday in an interview with TIME. Not just as Eric Holder, out there giving speechesthough certainly that could be a part of itbut to have maybe a place where this kind of effort is housed and to be associated with that kind of an entity.
His preparation comes at a time when the nations top law enforcement officer has launched a national tour to meet with black leaders and law enforcement around the country, amid daily protests over grand jury decisions in New York City and Ferguson, Mo., to not bring charges against police officers who killed unarmed black men. On Monday, Holder spoke at Atlantas Ebenezer Baptist Church, a civil rights landmark, and on Thursday he will travel to Cleveland, where a police officer recently shot a 12-year-old black boy, Tamir Rice, who was playing with an air gun.
Holders current plans include creating an institute of justice that would help continue the dialogue he hopes to undertake over the coming weeks. Holder has been the administrations point-person on Ferguson response since he visited the troubled city in August following the shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown.
Holder, who will leave office as soon as his replacement is confirmed, said he believes Ferguson could be a seminal moment for the national conversation about race.
Below is a lightly edited transcript of his Tuesday interview with TIME.
TIME: You said you were encouraged by the peaceful demonstrations after the Ferguson grand jury announcement and you praised the young people who interrupted you on Monday. What do you see in them?
Eric Holder: I think that these protests, if done correctly, can lead to positive change. And I draw distinction between those who protest peacefully in the great tradition of Rosa Parks, for instance.
Its interesting that I spoke yesterday at the church where Martin Luther King gave some of his famous speeches on the 59th anniversary of Rosa Parks refusing to get up and surrender her seat. And I think if you think about them, that is Rosa Parks, and if you think about Dr. King, and the lasting permanent changes that the movements that they helped to inspire, that he helped to lead, that I think is a guide to the protestors now. I think that protesters, people who feel strongly about the nature of the relationship between law enforcement and communities of color, that if that intensity of feeling is channeled appropriately, then positive change can come.
But it means people have to stay involved. They have to be committed to the cause, they have to organize, they have to do all the things that Rev. [C.T.] Vivian talked about last night in his remarks, that history has shown us produce things that are more than protests: things that morph from protest into a movement.
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Attorney General Eric Holder Plans Institute of Justice to Address Protest Concerns
Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday that "there is reasonable cause to believe that the Cleveland Division of Police engages in a pattern and practice of using excessive force," after Justice Department investigators examined nearly 600 cases of use of force that occurred between 2010 and 2013.
Holder went on to say that Cleveland and the Justice Department had agreed on a statement of principles that will lead to a consent decree.
The investigation in the Cleveland Police Department was launched in March 2013, "following a number of high profile use of force incidents and requests from the community and local government to investigate the [police department]," the report released Thursday said.
The report cited specific incidents, including a January 2011 police chase of an unarmed man, who suffered "kicks to the head" after he had "surrendered to officers and was handcuffed and prone on the ground." None of the officers filed a report on the use of force, and none "were appropriately disciplined for failing to report the use of force."
In another incident from November 2012, the report said, "over 100 Cleveland police officers engaged in a high speed chase, in violation of [Cleveland Division of Police] policies, and fatally shot two unarmed civilians. [Cleveland Division of Police] officers ultimately fired 137 shots at the car, killing both its occupants."
The unreasonable practices the Justice Department found included the following:
Justice Department investigators also said the division doesn't adequately review and investigate the use of force by its officers or fully investigate misconduct allegations or identify and respond to patterns of at-risk behavior.
The Justice Department and Cleveland Police Department so far have only agreed to come to an agreement about how to address this problem. They will work out the details of that agreement -- the so-called "consent decree" -- in the coming months, but it will include a requirement for an independent monitor who will oversee necessary reforms.
Holder invoked the names of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was killed in Cleveland in November, noting that there are ongoing federal civil rights investigations for each of those incidents. The Justice Department's investigation predates the recent shooting of Rice, and CBS News has learned that while that incident was not taken into consideration in the investigation, it will be considered as an agreement on changes that must be made within the Cleveland Division of Police.
"The tragic losses of these and far too many other Americans - including, just last month, the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice here in Cleveland - have raised urgent, national questions. And they have sparked an important conversation about the sense of trust that must exist between law enforcement and the communities they serve and protect."
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Eric Holder: Cleveland police engaged in pattern of excessive force
The U.S. Department of Justice will launch a civil-rights investigation into a New York mans police-involved death by apparent chokehold after a grand jury declined to indict the officer, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday evening.
Holder made televised remarks from a lectern in Washington, D.C., as protestors began to gather and march at several locations around New York City in response to the grand jurys decision in the case of Eric Garner. Federal prosecutors would conduct a independent, thorough, fair and expeditious investigation into Garners death, Holder said, after acknowledging he informed Garners widow that the Justice Department would launch the inquiry. His death was a great tragedy, he added. All lives must be valued, all lives.
MORE: Behind the Video of Eric Garners Deadly Confrontation With New York Police
A city medical examiner had previously ruled Garners death a homicide caused by compression of the neck (chokehold) and chest compressions he incurred while being subdued by police on July 17. Officers on Staten Island accused Garner of selling untaxed cigarettes and had attempted to arrest him, which he protested. Footage of the altercation, shot by a friend, shows a group of policemen forcing Garner to the ground as one of them, officer Daniel Panteleo, appears to put Garner in a chokehold, which is banned by the citys police department.
Holder appealed for calm Wednesday as protestors gathered in New York and Washington in response to the announcement. The news came about a week after a grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., decided not to indict white officer Darren Wilson in the death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. The Justice Department is also investigating that case.
The Attorney General also began a series of conversations in communities across the country between police officers and minorities to improve relations between the two groups. Holder said such conversations would proceed as we seek to form trust and foster understanding.
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Justice Department to Investigate Eric Garners Death