The Insanity Continues

There are several news stories that caught my attention recently. Every time I think that the country cannot get any crazier, up jumps the devil. I want to begin on the law enforcement front where a group of sheriffs have had to sue their state government to do what they are obligated to do and that is to preserve the peace and maintain law and order. Yes, you read that correctly.

A new law passed by the Maryland state legislature called the Community Trust Act prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from working with Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on illegal aliens jailed on criminal charges. The new state law also requires federal authorities to secure a judicial warrant before local agencies can transfer custody of an illegal alien.

This is highly problematic on several fronts. First, administrative warrants are legally valid for ICE agents to take someone into custody or place a hold on someone suspected of being in the country illegally, not judicial warrants. Apparently, these legislators do not understand administrative law. Second, law enforcement has long worked with their federal counterparts in the pursuit of justice. They participate in illegal drug task forces, violence crime task forces, child sex trafficking task forces and some local agencies  have formal Memorandums of Understanding to team up on specific initiatives including agreements where state and local officers are sworn in as deputy U.S. Marshals so that they can work on federal law violations.

Apparently the 9-11 terror attack has been forgotten by the Maryland state legislature. One of the many findings in the 9-11 commission report named the lack of information sharing between law enforcement agencies at the federal and local level as contributing factors in the attacks. The goal was to close the gap that existed in information sharing and removing the stovepipes that prevented effective information sharing up, down and across the law enforcement spectrum.

This move by the Maryland legislature was a naked political move. It shows why law enforcement should be kept out of the political sandbox and away from politicians. It is why responsible adults do not let children play with matches or sharp objects. It is a slippery slope where kids can be injured or killed. There are numerous instances where local jails have let dangerous criminal illegals back into the community without notifying ICE agents and the illegal has gone onto rape, rob and kill U.S. citizens. This group of sheriffs is right to sue the legislature. I am encouraged to see them fight the political class and not just take it laying down.

On another front, we just celebrated the month where we pause to honor and remember not only law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty but also American service members who were killed in action defending freedom. This Memorial Day happened to fall on the day that convicted career criminal George “Fentanyl” Floyd died 6 years ago. He is the guy who had spent 8 years in a Texas prison for a home invasion burglary where he held a loaded gun to the stomach of a pregnant woman while threatening to shoot her. He had numerous other arrests, some involving illegal narcotics. On the day he died, he was involved in criminal activity once again. Minneapolis police officers responded to a call involving Floyd where he resisted arrest, fought with officers and failed to comply with their lawful orders to take him into custody. He ultimately died in route to a hospital. An autopsy showed that beside other health related issues, he had fatal amounts of fentanyl in his system that likely killed him, not the knee on the upper shoulder that Officer Derrick Chauvin used, a maneuver taught in training by the Minneapolis Police Department.

The trial of the officers was nothing short of a miscarriage of justice. The state withheld evidence required under court rules that exculpatory evidence be turned over to the defense that might aid in proving their innocence. The Minneapolis police chief and a training division supervisor lied under oath that the maneuver used by Chauvin was not taught in training. It in fact is in the training manuel that was not allowed to be entered as evidence. Fourteen current and former Minneapolis Police officers have recently signed a sworn declaration stating they believe Assistant and now Acting Chief Katie Blackwell perjured herself during Chauvin’s murder trial.

The entire prosecution was an embarrassment to our system of justice and a fair trial. Derrick Chauvin remains in prison. Another officer involved was recently released after serving 5 years in a state prison. He never touched Floyd. All he did was hold the crowd back that had gathered. It is obvious that the state of Minnesota was on a witch hunt and needed to find a scape goat in this case to quell rioting that spread across the country. Floyd was painted as a martyr when he was nothing more than a career criminal who contributed to his own demise.

The connection to Memorial Day is that the governor of Minnesota and the mayor of Minneapolis chose to honor George Floyd instead of the U.S. service members killed in action. Neither of them attended any of the Memorial Day services in the area or across the state. This is shameful and reprehensible. Floyd is not someone to honor or memorialize no matter what day it is. We all need to move on from him.

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of Americas Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Moving Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com