Policing The Police: U.S. Steps Up Enforcement

This is news that needs to be shared. There has been too many issues with police brutality. Too many cases of excessive force. I understand the need to protect and serve. But what happened to shoot to injure and not shoot to kill? I hope the DOJ will not only issue some strong warnings but some federal laws that will be enacted as well. I will be keeping my eye on this one.

The U.S. Justice Department is stepping up its scrutiny of troubled police departments. Federal civil rights lawyers are investigating 15 departments from Arizona to New Jersey, asking whether officers are discriminating against minorities or using too much force.

When it comes to federal oversight of local police, there's only one place to start: the brutal attack on Rodney King. A Los Angeles police chief admitted King had been hit with batons more than 50 times, kicked at least seven times and shocked with a stun gun.

That brutal attack caught on videotape by a witness prompted Congress to give the Justice Department the power to investigate patterns of discrimination by local cops.

Tom Perez, who leads the Obama Justice Department's civil rights unit, said in an interview with NPR that officials are using that authority with care.

"This is not a gotcha exercise," Perez says. "We're not in this to fix the blame, we're in this to fix the problem."

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