Michigan lawmakers are launching bipartisan efforts to increase police recruitment and benefits as the number of law enforcement officers trends downward in the state. U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., introduced legislation Friday that would provide $50 million annually to state and local law enforcement agencies to create “Pathways to Policing” programs aimed at boosting recruitment in the field.
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Yesterday, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy made headlines by declaring gun violence to be a “public health crisis,” a statement that achieves the impressive feat of being both ludicrous and banal at the same time. The declaration was accompanied by a 40-page report — and a televised, direct-to-camera address from Dr. Murthy himself — “recommending,” as the New York Times reported, “an array of preventive measures that he compared to past campaigns against smoking and traffic safety.”
Perhaps the only thing the surgeon general’s report and accompanying statements were right about is that “gun violence” is, in fact, a major problem in the United States today. After that, however, its relationship to reality quickly disappears. Per the Times, “Dr. Murthy’s 32-page advisory calls for an increase in funding for firearm violence prevention research; advises health workers to discuss firearm storage with patients during routine medical visits; and recommends safe storage laws, universal background checks, ‘red flag’ laws and an assault weapons ban, among other measures.” Notably absent from the list of “solutions” is any meaningful strategy at all to take the people who commit gun violence — i.e., violent criminals — off the streets. (Or even to increase police presence in the places where gun violence happens most frequently). Instead, it is law-abiding gun owners who are expected to foot the bill.
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced a comprehensive ban on numerous practices in law enforcement, aimed at curbing tactics that some claim can lead to instances of so-called “police brutality,” according to Politico.
In a statement issued by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the department said it would be banning the use of chokeholds and carotid restraints by law enforcement officers, except in circumstances where “the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.” The department is also banning no-knock warrants, except in situations where an officer believes that announcing their identity could lead to physical harm.
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