Sessions pens op-ed warning against ‘harmful federal intrusion’ into policing

Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned against “harmful federal intrusion” in local policing in an op-ed published by USA Today.

“The Department of Justice agrees with the need to rebuild public confidence in law enforcement through common-sense reforms, such as de-escalation training, and we will punish any police conduct that violates civil rights,” Sessions wrote. “But such reforms must promote public safety and avoid harmful federal intrusion in the daily work of local police.”

The op-ed comes after Sessions publicly spoke out against so-called consent decrees, reform agreements between the Justice Department and local police forces that have been found to have committed improper practices. 

{mosads}Sessions recently said that those agreements can “reduce morale” among police officers.

“Too much focus has been placed on a small number of police who are bad actors rather than on criminals,” Sessions wrote in the op-ed. ”And too many people believe the solution is to impose consent decrees that discourage the proactive policing that keeps our cities safe.”

Sessions’s Justice Department was recently dealt a blow by a federal judge who upheld a consent decree between the city of Baltimore and the Department of Justice. The judge blocked a request from the department to delay the agreement from going into effect.

Sessions blasted the decision, saying it “would result in a less safe city.”