Latest news with #policereform
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
How Toronto police are trying to improve bail compliance
The issue of bail reform is back in the spotlight as Toronto police work to improve a program to allow officers to conduct more compliance checks. CBC's Farrah Merali explains how it works.
Al Jazeera
6 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Prosecutors recommend one day of prison for officer in Breonna Taylor death
The United States Department of Justice has requested that a former police officer involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor be given a prison term of a single day, plus three years of supervised release. That reduced sentencing recommendation marks a stark reversal for the prosecution, which began under former President Joe Biden and continued under current President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, Harmeet Dhillon, a Trump appointee serving as assistant attorney general for civil rights, submitted a court memorandum reflecting the government's new stance. She argued that former police officer Brett Hankison should not be confined to prison for his actions in the early morning hours of March 13, 2020, when Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot to death in her apartment. Dhillon noted that Hankison had no criminal history before November 2024, when a federal jury found him guilty of using excessive force in violation of Taylor's civil rights. These facts, Dhillon wrote, 'demonstrate that there is no need for a prison sentence to protect the public from the defendant'. 'For the reasons explained in this memorandum, the government requests a downward variance and a sentence of time served (one day's imprisonment), followed by three years of supervised release.' But critics blasted the recommendation as disregard for the will of the jury — not to mention for Taylor's life. 'The fact that Donald Trump's DOJ thinks Breonna Taylor's life is worth just a one-day jail sentence is morally reprehensible and deeply insulting,' wrote US Representative Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat whose district includes Louisville, Kentucky, where Taylor was shot to death. 'This is a dark day for our entire city.' A national outrage Taylor's killing at the hands of police officers in Louisville was a galvanising moment in the US, sparking debate over the use of police force in Black communities. It came just weeks before another unarmed Black person, George Floyd of Minnesota, was murdered by a police officer who knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes. Video of that incident — along with the news of Taylor's killing and other deaths — provoked nationwide uproar, leading to one of the largest protest movements in US history. Taylor had been at home just after midnight local time, when a group of plain-clothed police officers arrived at the apartment where she was staying with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. The officers executed a so-called no-knock warrant, attempting to storm Taylor's apartment unannounced, based on faulty evidence that her apartment was involved in a drug operation. Upon hearing the commotion, Walker said he believed he and Taylor were the targets of a home invasion, and he shot at the suspected intruders in self-defence. A pair of police officers returned fire in the doorway. Approximately 22 bullets were fired into the apartment, several of which hit Taylor, killing her. According to Justice Department prosecutors, Hankison then fired 10 more shots into the apartment through a window and sliding glass door, both of which were covered by curtains and blinds. They note that he could not see inside as he fired. None of Hankison's bullets struck Taylor, a fact Dhillon noted in this week's court memo. Hankison has testified that he believed his police colleagues were engaged in a gun fight with a semiautomatic rifle, and he fired through the side of the apartment to help in their defence. A shift in policy Given the outcry surrounding deaths like Taylor's, the administration of former President Biden had opened aggressive investigations and led prosecutions to hold police accountable for instances of excessive violence. In December 2024, for instance, the Department of Justice announced it had reached a court-enforceable agreement with the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) to reform the force's practices. That agreement stemmed from a March 2023 report that found a pattern of federal civil rights violations under the LMPD, including the use of excessive force and unlawful search warrants. 'An LMPD leader told the department, quote, Breonna Taylor was a symptom of the problems that we had for years,' then-Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a prepared video statement in 2024. 'The findings of our investigation, which I came to Louisville to announce last year, made that clear.' But since taking office in January, the Trump administration has rolled back the federal government's agreements with police departments found to have committed patterns of civil rights violations. One of the cancelled deals pertained to Louisville. Dhillon, at the time, called those reform agreements an example of 'federal micromanagement'. In this week's court filing, Dhillon wrote that she did not dispute that Hankison fired blindly into Taylor's apartment on the night of her killing. She also said that the government 'respects the jury's guilty verdict' in Hankison's case. But she nevertheless pointed out that Hankison had been acquitted of state-level charges, and his first federal trial ended in a mistrial in November 2023. Federal prosecutors retried the case the following year. Dhillon underscored that Hankison did not fire the fatal bullet. 'Counsel is unaware of another prosecution in which a police officer has been charged with depriving the rights of another person under the Fourth Amendment for returning fire and not injuring anyone,' she wrote. Outrage over recommendation But the recommendation that Hankison's sentencing be dropped to a single day has reignited the outrage around Taylor's killing — and the mourning for a young life cut short. In a statement on Thursday, the civil rights lawyers who represented Taylor's family, including Ben Crump, issued a joint statement denouncing Dhillon's sentencing recommendations as farcical. 'This recommendation is an insult to the life of Breonna Taylor and a blatant betrayal of the jury's decision. Every American who believes in equal justice under the law should be outraged,' they wrote. 'This sets a dangerous precedent. When a police officer is found guilty of violating someone's constitutional rights, there must be real accountability and justice. Recommending just one day in prison sends the unmistakable message that white officers can violate the civil rights of Black Americans with near-total impunity.' Hankison faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for his role in the fatal shooting.
New York Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Justice Dept. Asks for 1-Day Sentence for Ex-Officer Convicted in Breonna Taylor Raid
The Justice Department's civil rights chief has asked a federal judge to sentence a Louisville police officer convicted in the 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor to one day in jail, a stunning reversal of Biden-era efforts to address racial disparities in local law enforcement. Last year, a federal jury in Kentucky convicted Brett Hankison, the officer, of one count of violating Ms. Taylor's civil rights by discharging several shots through Ms. Taylor's window during a drug raid that went awry. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced next week. On Wednesday, Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, asked the judge in the case to sentence Mr. Hankison to time he had already served, in addition to one day in prison and three years of supervised release. In the filing, Ms. Dillon suggested the prosecution was excessive, arguing that the Biden Justice Department had secured a conviction against Mr. Hankison after he had been acquitted on state charges and his first federal trial ended in mistrial. 'In this case, two federal trials were ultimately necessary to obtain a unanimous verdict of guilt,' Ms. Dhillon wrote — adding that Mr. Hankison, a felon who was fired from his job five years ago, had already paid a substantial penalty for his actions. 'The jury's verdict will almost certainly ensure that Defendant Hankison never serves as a law enforcement officer again and will also likely ensure that he never legally possesses a firearm again,' she wrote. Such requests are typically filed by career prosecutors who worked on the case. Wednesday's filing was signed by Ms. Dillon, a political appointee who is a veteran Republican Party activist with close ties to President Trump, and one of her deputies.
Telegraph
7 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour risks making it harder to sack rogue police, warns ex-Met chief
Angela Rayner's workers' rights reforms risks making it harder to sack rogue police officers, the former head of the Metropolitan Police has warned. Lord Hogan-Howe, who was Britain's most senior police officer for six years, said he was concerned that plans to shorten probation periods meant more officers who should be removed would remain in the force. He told peers: 'The two-year probationary period has always been a good way in which to remove those people who should be dismissed or aren't suited to the role. 'So if we were to scrap that two-year period, one of the measures by which we get rid of the worst officers will be lost. I do worry about that.' He added: 'Police officers are not employees and it's already quite difficult to remove the ones who should be [removed].' Under Ms Rayner's Employment Rights Bill, workers will have the right to take their employers to court for unfair dismissal from the first day of a new job. Currently, people must be employed for at least two years before they qualify for these powers. The plans have sparked concerns that businesses could be inundated with tribunal claims. Lord Hogan-Howe said lawmakers should also 'pay particular attention to' the impact on policing – following a series of high-profile scandals involving rogue officers. He said: 'Often the officers who turn bad later should have been removed in their probationary period, had everyone had the courage to take that decision.' The former Met chief told peers on Wednesday that he wanted more clarity from the Government on how the package of reforms would affect the police. Police officers are servants of the Crown rather than employees in the typical sense. There have been serious concerns about the police vetting process ever since the murder of Sarah Everard by serving Met officer Wayne Couzens in 2021. An inquiry branded him a 'predatory sex offender and murderer' who should have never been a police officer, with a history of sexual offending dating back to 1995. In a 347-page report published last year, Dame Elish Angiolini said there had been a 'lamentable and repeated failure' to deal with allegations reported to police before Ms Everard's murder in south London. In a separate case, former Metropolitan police officer David Carrick was jailed for 30 years in 2023 for raping and assaulting 13 women. That year, Baroness Louise Casey highlighted examples of racist, homophobic and misogynistic behaviour amongst serving officers in the Metropolitan Police and warned that there might be another Wayne Couzens or David Carrick hiding in the ranks. Her report said a toxic culture of blame sought to pin responsibility for the widespread and 'institutionalised' misbehaviour on 'bad apples' with a 'strong tendency to look for a positive spin'. The report documented several failures to properly investigate claims of sexual assault and said racist and other discriminatory behaviour was often 'tolerated, ignored or dismissed as 'banter''. Earlier this year, police chiefs were handed new powers to sack officers who failed background checks under measures intended to strengthen faith in policing. A government spokesman said: 'Officers who fall seriously short of the standards expected have no place in our police and we must ensure they can be dismissed as swiftly as possible. That's why we have introduced new rules to strengthen the ability for police chiefs to clear out their forces of officers unfit to serve and the Employments Rights Bill will in no way impact their ability to do this.'
Fox News
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Former Dem advisor says he's 'almost speechless' at Mamdani's 'enraging' anti-cop comments, laments NYC crime
Former Democratic Party advisor Dan Turrentine blasted New York democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for his recently resurfaced comments on law enforcement. Since he won the Democratic primary, Mamdani has faced blistering criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for his rhetoric, such as refusing to disavow the phrase "globalize the intifada," which many argue is a call for violence. Most recently, Mamdani's 2020 interview on the "Immigrantly" podcast went viral on social media. In the clip, Mamdani argued that if one looks at the history of the New York Police Department, "you can see that we have invested in a system that functions in many ways to punish poor Black and Brown people." He went on to claim that these officers are overstepping their proper roles, whether they are called in to handle a homeless person on a train or if somebody is "surviving, you know, going through domestic violence." Co-host Mark Halperin noted "the notion that police shouldn't be called in cases of domestic violence," and turned to Turrentine, also a co-host on the show, to ask, "What do you think of that? Is that something that's going to hurt him or not?" Turrentine, who worked under Hillary Clinton when she was a New York senator and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis when he was in the House of Representatives, shared his hope on The Morning Meeting podcast that the Democratic Party condemns this politician. "I'm almost speechless. Like, that is so enraging," Turrentine said. "It's crazy. I hope it hurts him. Like, when I hear that, and I try to have an open mind, hope that whoever our next mayor is makes this city a great place. I live [here]. We have children here. New York City police officers put themselves in such harm's way. This city is full of crazy people on subways. I, our children go on it. The number of times that there are homeless people who are, like, out of their mind who come up to kids, who scream at them right near - to say the police are the [problem], I hope our party condemns him." Turrentine lamented the mere prospect of how things would be "if Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and everybody cannot stand up for the NYPD after the progress they've made with crime the last few years," recalling how New York City went from a "hellhole" to being relatively stable, up until recently. On the podcast, former Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer, also a co-host, honed in on the domestic violence comments, mocking the idea that some sort of social worker is a better person to contact in such cases than a police officer. "I don't want someone to come in and ask them about their feelings. I want them to protect me," he said. He added, "Aside from all of the stuff that Dan rightly brought up, which I agree with, it doesn't pass the common sense test," he said. "If someone is being brutalized, attacked, you want someone who can protect you, stop them. And this just shows the stupidity that is being perpetrated on folks right now." Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani's office and did not receive an immediate reply.
