Attorney General Jeff Sessions – who has criticized consent decrees on police reform as harmful to officers' morale – is arguing "common-sense reforms" must "avoid harmful federal intrusion."
In a commentary for USA Today posted Monday, the Trump administration's top prosecutor at the Department of Justice argued amid a "plague of violence, too much focus has been placed on a small number of police who are bad actors, rather than on criminals."
"[T]oo many people believe the solution is to impose consent decrees that discourage the proactive policing that keeps our cities safe," he wrote.
"The Department of Justice agrees with the need to rebuild public confidence in law enforcement through common-sense reforms, such as de-escalation training, and we will punish any police conduct that violates civil rights."
"But such reforms must promote public safety and avoid harmful federal intrusion in the daily work of local police," he declared.
Sessions also argued "proactive policing" keeps violent crime in check, citing dropping arrest and risising murder rates in both Chicago and Baltimore.
"We will not sign consent decrees for political expediency that will cost more lives by handcuffing the police instead of the criminals," he wrote.
"Our first priority must be to save lives, restore public safety, and bring back the community policing that we know works," he wrote.
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