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The
Michigan Socialist | News | Michigan
Be careful what you
wish for...
Feds now
control Detroit cops
By MARTIN
SCHREADER
Editor, the Michigan
Socialist
IN A MOVE that many radicals and liberals are
hailing as a victory, the city and the federal government have
agreed on two consent decrees that give the U.S. Department of
Justice oversight of the Detroit Police Department.
City officials signed the decrees on June 12,
settling a civil rights complaint filed in federal court the
same day.
The federal oversight and control of the
Detroit Police is the culmination of a 30-month investigation
by the Justice Dept., following a 30-month investigation
requested by then-Mayor Dennis Archer into a series of murders
committed by the cops, as well as cases of arbitrary and
indefinite detention of "material witnesses."
The police will have 90 days to implement
changes to department policy in many areas, including the
detaining and care of witnesses and suspects, the use of
force, and ensuring due process. The feds will oversee how
this plan is put into place, and how it progresses, until June
2008.
To be honest, many of the changes the Detroit
Police will be forced to make are, in the abstract,
supportable: rewriting the rules on the use of force to place
more emphasis on non-lethal weapons; verbal warnings before
using chemical weapons (e.g., pepper spray); safe, clean
detention cells; guaranteeing due process and judicial
oversight; etc.
However, as much as these reforms will make
one's experiences with the Detroit Police less hazardous to a
certain degree, a greater danger lies beneath the consent
decrees and the federal control.
Some months ago, the Detroit City Council
passed a resolution barring the police department from
assisting Attorney General John Ashcroft in investigations
related to provisions of the USA-PATRIOT Act. The resolution
was hailed as an act of defiance, and resulted in The City
joining a growing movement of local and state governments
against the Washington regime.
But now, with Detroit police under the control
of Washington, that resolution is not worth the paper on which
it is printed. It is only a matter of time before Detroit
police begin accompanying federal agents on
"terrorism-related" raids.
To take it a step further, there is a
possibility that these raids will, at some point, be turned
against the unions in the area. Many Arab and Muslim workers
in the area belong to some of the largest and most powerful
unions in this country -- the United Auto Workers, AFSCME, the
Teamsters, etc.
It is easy to see a scenario where the federal
government decides to go after one or more of these unions
because one of their "suspects" is also a union
member.
For years, the progressive movement in Detroit
called for federal intervention into the police. Now they have
it -- but it is not being carried out under the conditions
that originally sparked the call.
Then, there was a nominally democratic
government running the Justice Dept. Now, there is an
unelected, fascistic and corporatist regime backing a
KKK-loving head of the department.
The likelihood is that little, if anything,
will really change for the better at the Detroit Police
Department. The changes will be whitewashed, and the facts
kept from the public. In the meantime, the police will become
an extension of the Bush regime, and protect those interests
over and above those of the people.
At the very least, this latest turn of events
is a tragic confirmation of the old saying: "Be careful what
you wish for, you may just get it."
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