I have long predicted that the nationalization of our police force (a stated goal of one of Obama’s top cops) would more likely come as a “normalization” of process, regulations, procedures, etc., through model codes or through quid pro quos just as highway funds were used to strong arm states into raising the drinking age to 21 even though health and safety have both been clearly adjudicated as falling under the purview of the states as per the Tenth Amendment. (Since then, Congress passed a law setting a national drinking age, which on the face of it sounds unconstitutional to me.)
I believe the Baltimore’s police department’s recent compromise with the federal government is a step down this path…
Justice Department and Baltimore Agree on Plan to Reform Policing
The deal follows findings of unconstitutional practices concerning African-Americans by the city’s police department
With a week left in President Barack Obama’s tenure, the U.S. Department of Justice struck an agreement with Baltimore aimed at rooting out endemic unconstitutional practices in the city’s Police Department.
The 227-page proposed consent decree requires the Police Department to put in place a raft of new policies and training programs, to take steps to ensure that all stops, searches and arrests are constitutional, and to use de-escalation techniques to resolve incidents without force. It spells out in detail when officers can use force and how such actions are to be reported to supervisors.
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