Question: As an African-American, following the Diallo incident, I am deathly afraid of the police. What do you plan to do about police accountability for killing unarmed people?
Submitted from Van of Chesapeake, Virginia through MSNBC.com (10/09/00)
Answer from Howard Phillips:
Key To Ethical And Just Law Enforcement Is Maintaining Local Control And Accountability
Criminal justice is a matter of state and local jurisdiction not federal jurisdiction.
The best way for the federal government to encourage justice and accountability at the local level is to discontinue programs which create conflicts of interest for local law enforcement authorities.
We saw in the Elian Gonzalez kidnapping situation where Miami and Dade County law enforcement personnel reported to the Federal Justice Department and a federal executive rather than to officials of Dade County and Miami. This was extremely unfortunate.
In the final analysis the people resident in a community have to see to it that the local police uphold the highest standards of justice and fairness for all. The best thing the federal government can do to facilitate local accountability is to limit it's law enforcement functions to those stipulated in the constitution of the United States.
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