No new police bills without oversight and accountability

By MARC H. MORIAL (TriceEdneyWire.com) – “If there’s no criminal accountability of police for criminal behavior, then the fox is guarding the henhouse, and we’re the hens, and we’re living in a country that’s becoming a police state.” – Maya Wiley Since 1994, Congress has appropriated more than $20 billion for the Community Oriented Policing Services grant program, commonly known as COPS.& Has this program made communities safer? We don’t know, because in its entire 30-year existence, it has operated without any oversight, transparency or accountability measures. Last month’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was the first full committee meeting ever on oversight of the COPS Program. Yet a bill to pump another $3.25 billion into the program over the next five years – again, without adding oversight, transparency or accountability measures – has bipartisan support and is poised to sail through Congress. Related Stories As election season approaches, lawmakers appear desperate to stoke fears of a non-existent crime wave and paint their rivals as “soft on crime.” In fact, the measures proposed to respond to the fantasy of rising crime would harm vulnerable communities of color and undermine public safety and community trust. Furthermore, the cynical timing of these proposals...