-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- <A HREF="http://www.leaa.org/columbus.html">LEAA Special Report: Feds Taking Over Local Law Enforcement</A> http://www.leaa.org/columbus.html Feds Threaten To Take Over Ohio Police Department: Could Your Town Be Next? (The following is part of a special investigation by LEAA into the ever-expanding role the Clinton/Gore Justice Department is taking in controlling local law enforcement. Stay tuned for continued coverage of this issue on a weekly basis. More information will also be published in the next edition of LEAA's magazine, SHIELD. Additionally, LEAA is sharing information with Calibre Press' Street Survival Newsline who are helping bring this important news to law enforcement officers across the country) A legal battle is now being waged in U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ohio, pitting the legal weight and limitless financial resources of the U.S. Justice Department against that town's right to control its own police department. At stake is no less than the fate of local agencies everywhere to control their own destinies versus an emerging pattern by the Clinton Justice Department aimed at federalizing municipal police departments. Unfortunately, Columbus isn't the first victim. Already federal takeovers of departmental policy have occurred in Steubenville, Ohio, and in Pittsburgh, Penn. The police administrators in these two cities were, more or less, forced to sign consent decrees admitting their departments had participated in a pattern of civil rights violations and therefore needed the federal government to come in and run all future operations. What sets Columbus apart, what makes them different from these other two cities which acquiesced, is that this municipality has a contract with the local police union and can't make a deal with the devil without approval of FOP members - and thankfully they're fighting. The city's 30-year history of collective bargaining with rank-and-file legally forbids the city from exposing its officers to many of the changes demanded by the DOJ. Therefore, since Columbus and the police union have decided not to sign the consent decree, the Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the city to recoup all federal grant money awarded over the years. Some would call this extortion. Bill Capretta, president of the Capitol City Lodge No. 9 of the Fraternal Order of Police in Columbus, says the lawsuit is the "latest step in a Justice Department campaign to impose federal (law enforcement) standards on police departments nationwide." Alleging a "pattern of civil rights abuses" by the Columbus police department, DOJ attorneys filed their suit on October 21 forcing Columbus to let the federal government implement their policy changes in the city's police department, which would include training and staffing reforms as well as new disciplinary and reporting procedures. The suit was apparently the culmination of a two-year investigation. What's worse is that the city of Columbus and DOJ were negotiating for more than a year about the proposed consent decree, more or less behind closed doors, and the FOP was barred from attending or commenting on those proceedings. Just this past summer, the police union and its officer-members were notified that the federal takeover of the department was underway. Further proof of the Justice Department's arrogant and dismissive attitude toward officers' participation in determining their own fate, is in the request made by DOJ to the presiding court to postpone deliberation on the suit until December 20, 1999. Police observers believe that date was selected as a blatant move to deny officers a role in the court proceedings since it comes one week after the expiration of the FOP contract with the city of Columbus, and therefore the union maybe precluded from having a say in the matter. Nonetheless, officers in Columbus are demanding to be heard. Shortly after the DOJ filed suit against the city (when the city failed to concede), the FOP filed a 19-page motion asking U.S. Judge John D. Holschuh to include the organization as a defendant in the DOJ lawsuit. FOP President Capretta claimed in the motion that the union is best able to defend itself and rank-and-file officers against the federal claims and protect their reputations, because the city has its own separate interests to look out for. To Be Continued... Get full coverage of this story and other important issues by joining LEAA Today! (click here) <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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