More from the OpEd ...
... One day before President Trump hit 100 days in office, his vision for policing in the United States fully came into focus. On April 28, Trump signed Executive Order 14288, entitled "Strengthening and Unleashing America's Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens."
"Unleashing" things is a theme in Trump's executive orders -- at least six executive orders (EOs) to date have included a form of that word in their titles. But "unleashing" is particularly stark in the policing context, suggesting a desire for policing unconstrained by law or democratic norms. The substance of the EO is consistent with this suggestion. In contrast to the first Trump administration, there is no semblance of commitment to police accountability. Instead, the EO rejects a federal role in holding state and local police accountable to law, and commits instead to policing that is militarized and unaccountable.
While split into seven short sections, the EO essentially reflects two overarching aims: First, it seeks to redefine desirable American policing as politicized, militarized, and repressive. In this respect, the tone set by the EO is as important as any of its purported requirements. Second, the EO reflects the administration's efforts to make police accountability even more difficult to achieve than it already is.
To be sure, nothing in the EO is self-executing, and, in many respects, it restates what is, or demands what cannot be (at least legally). Nonetheless, people concerned about accountable, democratic policing should take the EO seriously because it illustrates how Trump hopes to use policing to further his own aims rather than to protect people. But a close read of the EO also provides insights into how to thwart those aims.
Politicized Law Enforcement ...
