Revealing a new soft corner for criminals, the Biden administration is seemingly looking to “modernize” the hiring process at police departments by allowing applications from individuals with criminal records.
Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a press release with recommendations for law enforcement agencies that face recruitment challenges. The recommendations come in the form of a 60-page publication titled “Recruitment and Retention for the Modern Law Enforcement Agency.” The publication offered 50 plus recommendations coming from law enforcement and community leaders, who participated in a meeting held in April this year at the request of United States Attorney General (AG) Merrick Garland. One of these recommendations asks for reconsidering the categorical bans on hiring people with criminal histories. Among the list of the recommendations is:
“reconsidering flat bars based on minor, isolated criminal offenses, especially where offenses occurred a long time ago based on minor, isolated criminal offenses, especially where offenses occurred a long time ago.”
The publication says that participants unanimously agreed on the recommendation not to consider applications from anyone with “serious criminal history, including felony convictions,” those who exhibit “extremism or demonstrated prejudice or bigotry, including in dress, jewelry, or tattoos,” and those having a history of violence.
While the publication declares that these recommendations do not represent the official position or policy of the DOJ and are the opinions of the participants in the meeting, the inclusion of relaxing the ban on people with a criminal history in the police hiring process raised some concerns from conservative sources. The Daily Caller equated the report to Biden’s DOJ recommending a reconsideration of hiring standards on criminal histories and former drug use by applicants. It is not clear whether the DOJ will officially endorse all these recommendations for police recruitment, but the possibility can’t be ruled out.
The Daily Caller wrote that the DOJ did not immediately respond to its request for comment on this matter.
Over the past decade, liberals across the country have painted the police departments as racist and rogue, fueling hatred against cops that led to violent riots and attacks in a number of states including Oregon, Georgia, Washington, Missouri, and others. Leftist activist movements like Antifa and Black Lives Matter (BLM) have launched mob style attacks on civilians and at times against police during protests, mostly in blue cities. Last year, a BLM rioter, Stephan Cannon, was found guilty of murdering a retired police officer during a 2020 riot in St. Louis, Missouri.
Supporting Antifa and BLM against law enforcement is not the only means liberals in the United States employed to back criminal behavior. In 2021, a handful of Democrat-run states like Washington and New York took legislative or executive action to expand voting rights for convicted felons based on their rationale that voting restrictions on ex-convicts mainly affects people of color.