Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is initiating an investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department. According to the official statement, the DOJ has opened a “pattern and practice” investigation. They will be looking at possible patterns of racial discrimination and the use of excessive force by police personnel.
Most news services failed to report on the DOJ’s complete official statement. What seemed of little interest to the newsies was the fact that the investigation is delving into both the Police Department AND the City of Minneapolis – a longtime Democrat stronghold.
Maybe the reporters missed it because Garland, himself, failed to note the inclusion of the City of Minneapolis when he said: “Today, I am announcing that the Justice Department has opened a civil investigation to determine whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing.” However, the official statement on the DOJ’s website mentioned the City administration.
Garland noted that this investigation is in addition to the previously announced criminal inquiry into the death of George Floyd. I thought Minnesota prosecutors, including the state’s Attorney General Keith Ellison, already completed the eleven-month investigation into Floyd’s death. And the result was the conviction of former Officer Derek Chauvin on all counts.
The news reports speculate that the DOJ may be looking into new charges against Chauvin. He apparently knelt on the neck of a 14-year-old for 17 minutes several years ago – but without a tragic outcome. One might wonder why they should even bother.
The seemingly endless launching of government investigations – and especially those that seem politically motivated – is getting tiresome. Rather than producing any civic benefits, they seem to create nothing more than rancor among the citizenry.
Garland said the second investigation is necessary because “the verdict in the state criminal trial does not address potentially systemic policing issues in Minneapolis.” Hmmmm. Imagine that, systemic racism in yet another Democrat-controlled city.
The current DOJ’s use of “pattern and practices” investigations of police departments is a return to the Obama Administration policies. The Trump administration launched only one such investigation in four years – and that involved a small police force in Massachusetts. The Obama DOJ opened more than two dozen “patterns and practices” investigations — without any notable outcomes.
As a nuance to the investigation, Garland had revoked the Trump administration’s policy of restricting the use of “consent decrees” to force municipalities and local departments into compliance with federal demands – often arbitrary federal standards.
Even though he is technically under investigation, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the investigation is “an opportunity to continue working towards that deep change and accountability that we know that we need in the Minneapolis Police Department, and so to the extent the DOJ can help with that we very much welcome.” People under investigation always promise to cooperate fully.
But is the City really under investigation? I can read what the DOJ announcement said, but I have my doubts.
What I find most interesting about the investigation, it confirms what I have said over many years. If there is systemic racism in police departments, it is almost always in Democrat-controlled ones. Minneapolis has only had one Republican mayor – and for only one year – since 1961.
In any major city, the mayor is much more responsible for the leadership and the culture of the police department than even the police chief. The mayor hires the top brass. The mayor can order changes in policy. If you have significant corruption in a police department, you can be sure that it comes down from the top.
I will make a prediction. DOJ investigators will find egregious patterns of discrimination and excessive use of force. BUT … they will never link it to City Hall. That is how the political bias works. Authorities or the bias news media never hold Democrat politicians accountable.
Generations of the most egregious systemic racial discrimination have never been brought to the door of those controlling the system – at least not since Martin Luther King confronted the Democrat leadership in such places as Selma, Atlanta, Montgomery and Chicago. He knew where the systemic racism originated – and who was fostering it.
Today, the so-called civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are part of the Democratic Party establishment that diverts attention away from the source of the problem for their own power, prestige and profit. If the Democratic Party was the Mafia, these guys would be “made men.”
Historically – and today – the national Democratic Party pays lip service to civic rights while looking the other way at the racism in their own backyard. It was so with President Roosevelt and the southern Democrats. It was so with President Kennedy and the racist Democrat mayors – and the southern Democrats. Even President Obama ignored the systemic racism of the Chicago Democrat Machine – from whence he rose to power.
The fact that virtually every killing of a Black man – and virtually every protest and riot that has stemmed from the oppression and abuse Blacks suffer in Democrat-run cities – the connection is never made between the problem and the politicians responsible. There is no accountability.
Democrats and the left-wing media can celebrate the DOJ investigation of the City of Minneapolis and its police department because they know when all is said and done, those in charge will never be held accountable.
So, there ‘tis.