Latest news with #NLEAD
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Trump Deletes Database Containing Over 5,000 Police Misconduct Incidents
In one of his first acts after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump ordered the Justice Department to delete a nationwide database tracking misconduct by federal law enforcement. Along with rescinding former President Joe Biden's executive orders on policing, Trump scrapped the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD), which logged more than 5,200 incidents of misconduct by federal officers and agents across various agencies. In a written statement to The Washington Post, the White House said Biden's executive order creating the NLEAD database "was full of woke, anti-police concepts that make communities less safe like a call for 'equitable' policing and addressing 'systemic racism in our criminal justice system.' President Trump rescinded the order creating this database on Day 1 because he is committed to giving our brave men and women of law enforcement the tools they need to stop crime." It is unclear what tool Trump is giving to law enforcement by deleting a nonpublic misconduct database—besides protection from future background checks. Centralized databases of police misconduct are important because, traditionally, poor information sharing between departments and lax background checks have allowed problem officers to hop from one department to another, leaving a string of misconduct, rights violations, and expensive lawsuits. Once upon a time, even Trump thought the database was a good idea. In 2020, the Trump White House issued an executive order directing the attorney general to "create a database to coordinate the sharing of information between and among Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies concerning instances of excessive use of force related to law enforcement matters, accounting for applicable privacy and due process rights." Biden's NLEAD was actually less ambitious than Trump's plan: It included only federal law enforcement, and access was limited to federal agencies. Still, federal law enforcement unions objected, complaining that the database included minor administrative infractions and didn't give officers due process channels to dispute their inclusion. The Appeal, a nonprofit publication covering criminal justice issues, obtained a copy of the now-deleted database through a Freedom of Information Act request and reported that the vast majority of federal law enforcement agents in the database were Bureau of Prisons (BOP) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees. "BOP and CBP employees comprised more than 70 percent of the more than 5,200 misconduct instances recorded in NLEAD between 2017 and 2024," The Appeal reported. "BOP officers accounted for more than 2,600 incidents—over half of all entries." By deleting NLEAD, Trump isn't protecting beat cops from woke witch hunts—he's covering for two of the most sprawling, unaccountable, and expensive law enforcement agencies in the federal government. The post Trump Deletes Database Containing Over 5,000 Police Misconduct Incidents appeared first on
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
You Won't Believe the Disturbing Tactics Conservatives are Using to Erase the Progress Made After George Floyd's Death
When George Floyd was killed at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin back in May 2020, it became the catalyst for America to pay attention to the plight of Black people in this country. Not only were Black Lives Matter protests taking place on both national and international levels, the federal government and corporate America were finally showing solidarity by implementing intentional diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Chauvin was later convicted for murdering Floyd in 2022 and is serving out concurrent federal and state sentences in a federal prison in Arizona. Considering that Black folks rarely get justice when they lose their lives at the hands of cops, his guilty verdict and sentencing was seen as a rare victory for our community. But if Trump and his supporters continue to have their way, all of this progress will be erased. In 2023, the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious college admissions which galvanized conservative groups to go after corporate 'wokeism.' Since being re-elected, Trump — along with his fellow Republicans— have worked tirelessly to undermine everything accomplished after Floyd's death through a slew of disturbing actions. Trump wasted no time signing off on executive orders that direct the Attorney General to identify and possibly investigate private sector companies with 'egregious and discriminatory' DEI programs. The orders also discontinue nearly all DEI-related activities in the federal workforce, in addition to rescinding a number of DEI-related executive orders issued by prior administrations — undoing what was put in place after Floyd's death. This has prompted notable companies, including Target, Walmart, Meta, and McDonald's to get rid of their programs that center diversity. It has also led to many executives altering their language around DEI efforts. For example, SHRM (also known as the Society for Human Resource Management) got rid of the word 'equity' from its 'Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity' approach, referring to its 'commitment to leading with Inclusion as the catalyst for holistic change in workplaces and society.' In January, Trump signed an executive order that removed a federal system for doing background checks on police. The National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD) was founded in 2023 and contained the professional records of federal law enforcement officers. Its primary goal was to allow prospective employers — including federal agencies and local police — to check their backgrounds for misconduct. But once Trump was re-elected, he made sure the system was taken offline. After Floyd's death, there was a national outcry for police reform. Former President Joe Biden issued a 'police accountability' executive order in 2022 with the database being just one item among many in the order. Despite Trump removing it, the National Decertification Index (NDI) still allows departments to check officers' records in other states, NPR reports. Chauvin's conviction in the murder of Floyd felt like justice for Black folks, but that now may be in jeopardy. Conservative media pundit Ben Shapiro recently launched a petition requesting Trump to pardon Chauvin. 'We write to urge you to immediately issue a pardon for Officer Derek Chauvin, who was unjustly convicted and is currently serving a 22-and-a-half year sentence for the murder of George Floyd and associated federal charges,' Shapiro wrote in a letter to the president. Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who serves as a senior adviser to Trump — posted about Shapiro's petition on X and stated it was 'something to think about.' For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration shuts down national database documenting police misconduct
Donald Trump's second presidential administration shut down a national database that tracked misconduct by federal police, a resource that policing reform advocates hailed as essential to prevent officers with misconduct records from being able to move undetected between agencies. The National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD), which stored police records documenting misconduct, is now unavailable, the Washington Post first reported. The US justice department also confirmed the database's elimination in a statement issued online. 'User agencies can no longer query or add data to the NLEAD,' the statement read. 'The US Department of Justice is decommissioning the NLEAD in accordance with federal standards.' Related: Ex-officer is convicted in 2022 roadside shooting death of Colorado man A weblink that hosted the database is no longer active. The police misconduct database, the first of its kind, was not publicly available. Law enforcement agencies could use the NLEAD to check if an officer applying for a law enforcement position had committed misconduct, such as excessive force. Several experts celebrated the NLEAD when Joe Biden first created it by an executive order issued in 2023, the third year of his presidency. 'Law enforcement agencies will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to the records of misconduct in officer hiring and offending officers will not be able to distance themselves from their misdeeds,' the Legal Defense Fund president and director-counsel, Janai Nelson, said of the database at the time. But Trump has since rescinded Biden's executive order as part of an ongoing effort to slash federal agencies down. Trump himself initially proposed the database after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, months before Biden defeated him in the presidential election that November. In an emailed statement to the Washington Post, the White House confirmed the database's deletion. 'President Trump believes in an appropriate balance of accountability without compromising law enforcement's ability to do its job of fighting crime and keeping communities safe,' read the statement. 'But the Biden executive order creating this database was full of woke, anti-police concepts that make communities less safe like a call for 'equitable' policing and addressing 'systemic racism in our criminal justice system.' President Trump rescinded the order creating this database on Day 1 because he is committed to giving our brave men and women of law enforcement the tools they need to stop crime.' News of the NLEAD's erasure comes as police misconduct is far from rooted out in American law enforcement. For instance, in Hanceville, Alabama, an entire department was recently put on leave amid a grand jury investigation that found a 'rampant culture of corruption'. The 18-person grand jury called for the Hanceville police department, which only has eight officers, to be abolished. A probe into that police department came amid the death of 49-year-old Christopher Michael Willingham, a Hanceville dispatcher. Willingham was discovered dead at work from a toxic combination of drugs. The department also 'failed to account for, preserve and maintain evidence and in doing so has failed crime victims and the public at large', the grand jury ruled.
The Guardian
22-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump administration shuts down national database documenting police misconduct
Donald Trump's second presidential administration shut down a national database that tracked misconduct by federal police, a resource that policing reform advocates hailed as essential to prevent officers with misconduct records from being able to move undetected between agencies. The National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD), which stored police records documenting misconduct, is now unavailable, the Washington Post first reported. The US justice department also confirmed the database's elimination in a statement issued online. 'User agencies can no longer query or add data to the NLEAD,' the statement read. 'The US Department of Justice is decommissioning the NLEAD in accordance with federal standards.' A weblink that hosted the database is no longer active. The police misconduct database, the first of its kind, was not publicly available. Law enforcement agencies could use the NLEAD to check if an officer applying for a law enforcement position had committed misconduct, such as excessive force. Several experts celebrated the NLEAD when Joe Biden first created it by an executive order issued in 2023, the third year of his presidency. 'Law enforcement agencies will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to the records of misconduct in officer hiring and offending officers will not be able to distance themselves from their misdeeds,' the Legal Defense Fund president and director-counsel, Janai Nelson, said of the database at the time. But Trump has since rescinded Biden's executive order as part of an ongoing effort to slash federal agencies down. Trump himself initially proposed the database after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, months before Biden defeated him in the presidential election that November. In an emailed statement to the Washington Post, the White House confirmed the database's deletion. 'President Trump believes in an appropriate balance of accountability without compromising law enforcement's ability to do its job of fighting crime and keeping communities safe,' read the statement. 'But the Biden executive order creating this database was full of woke, anti-police concepts that make communities less safe like a call for 'equitable' policing and addressing 'systemic racism in our criminal justice system.' President Trump rescinded the order creating this database on Day 1 because he is committed to giving our brave men and women of law enforcement the tools they need to stop crime.' Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion News of the NLEAD's erasure comes as police misconduct is far from rooted out in American law enforcement. For instance, in Hanceville, Alabama, an entire department was recently put on leave amid a grand jury investigation that found a 'rampant culture of corruption'. The 18-person grand jury called for the Hanceville police department, which only has eight officers, to be abolished. A probe into that police department came amid the death of 49-year-old Christopher Michael Willingham, a Hanceville dispatcher. Willingham was discovered dead at work from a toxic combination of drugs. The department also 'failed to account for, preserve and maintain evidence and in doing so has failed crime victims and the public at large', the grand jury ruled.
Shafaq News
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
US shuts down NLEAD following Trump's order
Shafaq News/ The United States has officially shut down a national database tracking police misconduct after President Donald Trump revoked an executive order issued by former President Joe Biden. According to a memo on the US Department of Justice website, Trump's decision led to the deactivation of the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD). "Agencies can no longer query or add data to the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database. DoJ is deactivating the NLEAD by federal standards," the memo stated. Trump originally proposed the creation of the database during his first term, but it was formally established under Biden's administration as part of a series of police reforms following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. The demonstrations erupted after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died when former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground with his knee for over nine minutes. Chauvin was later convicted of murder and civil rights violations.
