President Joe Biden’s Associate attorney general nominee, Vanita Gupta, is the CEO and president of an interest group that published a 416-page report in March 2019 calling for a “new era of public safety.” The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights report recommends “community policing,” as well as banning law enforcement from all schools. It says:
A community policing model may require changes in departments’ staffing levels, deployment patterns, and the like, which can require cutting costs, raising additional funds, and/or using resources more efficiently. Studies suggest that insufficient resources and/or inefficient resource allocation block effective implementation of community policing initiatives. Fortunately, departments don’t necessarily need additional funds to implement community policing initiatives; they may be able to secure adequate funding by reallocating or reinvesting existing resources. As such, government bodies that oversee police departments and department leadership should ensure that departments are using resources efficiently to promote community policing and that they are allocated equitably across neighborhoods served by departments.
The report’s explicit call to “end the use of police in schools as a solution to student discipline” would only put students in danger in the case of an armed shooter situation. It uses the premise that “…students of color, students with disabilities, and students who identify as LGBTQ — have increasingly been subject to arrest and excessive force for minor misbehavior or behavior that arises from a disability,” in order to conclude that “school districts should limit school requests for police assistance.”
“Police officers should have no role in student disciplinary matters,” it states. The report also calls for banning officers from being able to ask citizens “about their sexual orientation or immigration status,” blurring our clearly defined immigration laws that leftists so disdain.
“Community policing” is erroneously portrayed as a beneficial and good practice based on historical scenarios. The report references the civil rights movement and argues that activists’ use of force seemingly was the proper way to solve America’s issues. It mocks the notion of a legitimate police force, by saying there is no such idea as “real” law enforcement.
“Even leaders who express a commitment to community policing sometimes view it as separate and distinct from ‘real’ law enforcement,” the report says. “Some delegate the task of cultivating community relationships to a handful of officers and assign others to patrolling streets and responding to calls.” While the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights perpetually employs the term “community policing,” it appears to be a flimsy replacement term for the phrase “defund the police” that the left recognizes does not resonate all too well with Americans.
In June, Gupta’s leftist organization backed the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act,” introduced by Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif. The legislation, also supported by Al Sharpton, was a knockoff of Sen. Tim Scott’s, R-S.C., JUSTICE Act that would have provided de-escalation and intervention-based training for law enforcement and placed body cameras on officers.
The “Justice in Policing Act” proposed by Democrats instead aims at “reducing implicit bias” and “limiting the continued militarization of local police departments,” according to Virginia Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger.
Gupta continues to support the Marxist organization Black Lives Matter and said last summer during a House Oversight Hearing that America needs a “shrinking [of] the footprint of the criminal legal system in black and brown peoples’ lives.” Gupta also claimed that we need a “new paradigm” entirely in addressing policing, not merely “reform.” The Biden nominee asserted that government ought to divest funding from police and spend more on entitlements including government health care.
“This approach will not only further equity but also constitute effective policy,” said Gupta. “When we stop using criminal justice policy as social policy, we will make communities safer, and more prosperous.”
Last week, Judicial Crisis Network, Heritage Action for America, and Americans for Public Trust partnered for more than $2 million to run advertisements targeting Gupta’s poor stance on law and order. The ads also targeted Biden secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Xavier Becerra.
“In Vanita Gupta, President Biden has nominated a liberal activist who supports defunding the police and brings to the job her experience leading a left-wing dark money group. President Biden promised to unify and heal this country, but he couldn’t have picked a more divisive figure to help lead the DOJ,” said Carrie Severino, president of Judicial Crisis Network and a Federalist contributor.
“When our cities burned,” the advertisement says, “Gupta could have stood for law and order, for victims. Instead, she advocated to let convicts out of jail. Biden promised unity, but this is a dangerous appointee. And a dangerous time.”
In June, corporations such as Cisco, Intel, Walmart, and Glosser donated about $1.175 billion to “social justice” organizations. Microsoft, who donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which operated to bail out criminals and was endorsed by Vice President Kamala Harris, donated an undisclosed amount to Gupta’s far-left interest group. So did Target.
HHS nominee Becerra is testifying this week before the Senate. Gupta’s confirmation hearings in front of the Judiciary Committee have not yet been scheduled.
