We have a legal process in place that allows the Civil Rights Division of the Dept of Justice to investigate and prosecute actions by state and local police that violate a citizens civil rights.
Unfortunately, Bush has kept his 2000 campaign promise to limit DoJ's investigations of such practices:
Quote:
During the 2000 presidential campaign, Governor Bush promised in a written statement to the National Fraternal Order of Police that:
* "I do not believe the Justice Department should routinely seek to conduct oversight investigations, issue reports or undertake other activity that is designed to function as a review of police operations in states, cities and towns."
* "I also do not believe that the federal government should instruct state and local authorities on how police department operations should be conducted, becoming a separate internal affairs division."
* "There are certain cases where a federal investigation conducted fairly, reasonably, and without bias can assist state and local authorities in resolving issues or allegations of police misconduct. These cases should be the exception, not the rule." These campaign promises have been fulfilled by the Civil Rights Division.
http://www.cccr.org/justice/issue.cfm?id=15
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The Bush approach, in line with conservative thinking, is to keep the federal government out and let a local police department investigate it own patterns and practices of violating citizens rights.
How about letting the DoJ Civil Rights Division do its job?