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Anger Mounts After Jeff Sessions Dismisses DOJ Reports on Police Misconduct Without Even Reading Them

The attorney general plans to halt the current probes into several departments.

During a press briefing on Monday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions told reporters the Justice Department was not sure whether it would enforce police reform in the Chicago police force, a department that the Obama administration deemed racially discriminatory, according to Reuters.

When questioned about the DOJ investigation performed by the former administration, Sessions admitted to not having read the report in its entirety. Instead, he read summaries. 

"Some of it was pretty anecdotal and not so scientifically based," Sessions said of the condensed write-ups of the report.

Then on Tuesday, Sessions said in a speech that his department would pull back on probing several police departments, reported the New York Times.

Although Mr. Sessions did not refer to any specific cities or departments, he indicated that investigations performed by the Justice Department were negatively affecting the ability of officers to do their job.

“We need, so far as we can, in my view, [to] help police departments get better, not diminish their effectiveness,” Mr. Sessions said in remarks to the National Association of Attorneys General. “And I’m afraid we’ve done some of that. So we’re going to try to pull back on this, and I don’t think it’s wrong or mean or insensitive to civil rights or human rights.”

  • Mr. Sessions's dismissal of the current reports angered many people who found the misconduct of several departments disturbing

  • Although the Chicago Police Department review by the DOJ revealed that Black people were disproportionately targeted by police, Sessions is choosing to protect the misconduct of the police

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