Trump Administration's "Law and Order" Rhetoric Put To The Test

CROWN POINT, Ind. - March 16, 2017 - PRLog -- U.S. Attorney General Jefferson Sessions recently announced plans for his Department of Justice (DOJ) to "pull back" on civil rights litigation against U.S. police departments. The shift is reportedly part of efforts to intensify protection of poor and minority communities from violent crime. But attorney Bryan Bullock is questioning that rationale given Session's "law and order" rhetoric and the reported plight of U.S. law enforcement whistleblowers.

Bullock is the DOJ Liaison for Golden Badge (GB), "an international union of current and former criminal law enforcement as well as correctional officers and public officials who were wrongfully disciplined, terminated, sued, or even prosecuted in apparent retaliation for their respective attempt(s) to fairly and impartially enforce (the) law." Writing on behalf of GB, Bullock explains in a letter to Sessions that "one of the most objective indications that the Trump Administration's professed commitment to the well-being of poor and minority communities is genuine would be a parallel commitment to effective law enforcement whistleblower protection."

According to Bullock, "Many, if not most, African Americans consider the Trump Administration's law and order rhetoric mere code for plans to execute oppressive law enforcement." Bullock notes, "This law and order to which Trump and Sessions aspire can't happen without good faith law enforcement whistleblowers. If the DOJ won't protect them, it couldn't be serious about protecting poor and minority communities from police brutality."

In addition to being a GB spokesperson, attorney Bullock is president of the Indiana Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a member of the National Coalition of Black Lawyers, on the boards of the Indiana ACLU and the Indiana Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Bullock is also an adjunct professor at Indiana University Northwest. He explains that the Trump Administration is being put to a test: "Over the next four years I anticipate there will be a general lock 'em up and throw away the key response ⎼ particularly to young, male, poor, urban-dwelling people of color. Sessions has already shown disdain for the consent decrees entered into between the DOJ and cities with high rates of documented police abuse against black and brown people. Should we see more of the same or worse, it will likely accompany continued, systematic exclusion of good faith whistleblowers from U.S. law enforcement."

To learn more about Golden Badge, visit https://www.facebook.com/getbehindtheGoldenBadge/.