Allegheny County council votes against civilian police review board

PITTSBURGH — A bill to create a civilian police review board that could investigate allegations of misconduct was defeated by a 9-6 vote Tuesday night in Allegheny County Council.

The only department that would have automatically been subject to the oversight is Allegheny County Police. Each individual municipality would have been able to opt in.

Councilman DeWitt Walton, one of the main proponents of the bill, said that it will be reintroduced in January.

In the days leading up to the vote, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said he would sign the legislation if it passed.

"We appreciate the work that council has done on this issue, which mirrors the efforts being discussed at the state," Fitzgerald said in a written statement Tuesday night. "This is an important conversation, and council members Walton and (Paul) Klein should be commended for keeping the focus on how we address policing and citizen complaints in our communities."

Walton said the issue is largely about standardizing the way police departments are reviewed in Allegheny County.

"Ninety-five percent of police officers do a great job every day," said Walton, a Hill District Democrat. "It's just those 5% that slip through that need to be held accountable."

The president of the Allegheny County Police Association said the group was against the idea.

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Democrats move on gun control

Some House Democrats will return early from the summer recess to advance gun control legislation, including a bill banning large ammunition magazines.

The House Judiciary Committee announced a Sept. 4 vote on a group of measures aimed at reducing gun violence.

“For far too long, politicians in Washington have only offered thoughts and prayers in the wake of gun violence tragedies,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said. “Thoughts and prayers have never been enough. To keep our communities safe, we must act.”

The Democratic-led House passed a universal background check bill in February, but the GOP-led Senate has ignored it so far due to a lack of significant Republican support.

House Democrats are nonetheless ready to advance additional gun control measures. Nadler, a Democrat from New York, said he’ll take up a measure that would ban high-capacity ammunition magazines which were used in a string of deadly mass shootings this summer.

The committee will vote to advance the measure on Sept. 4 and plans a Sept. 25 hearing on banning “military-style assault weapons,” Nadler said.

Nadler will also hold a Sept. 4 vote on the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, which would provide grants to encourage states to impose “red flag” laws allowing law enforcement to remove weapons from people who are deemed dangerous to themselves or others. The panel will also consider a measure that would establish procedures for obtaining extreme risk protection orders in federal court.

Finally, lawmakers will vote to advance the Disarm Hate Act, which would block the sale of guns to anyone convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime.

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AG Barr: Progressive Prosecutors Portend ‘More Crime, More Victims’

Attorney General William Barr condemned progressive prosecutors Monday, calling them “dangerous to public safety” and predicting that the result of the lenient policies they espouse will be an uptick in crime.

Such district attorneys are “demoralizing to law enforcement” and “spend their time undercutting the police, letting criminals off the hook, and refusing to enforce the law,” Barr said in remarks to the Fraternal Order of Police’s 64th National Biennial Conference in New Orleans.

“These anti-law enforcement [district attorneys] have tended to emerge in jurisdictions where the election is largely determined by the primary,” Barr said. “Frequently, these candidates ambush an incumbent D.A. in the primary with misleading campaigns and large infusions of money from outside groups.”

“Most disturbing is that some are refusing to prosecute cases of resisting police,” Barr continued. “Some are refusing to prosecute various theft cases or drug cases, even where the suspect is involved in distribution. And when they do deign to charge a criminal suspect, they are frequently seeking sentences that are pathetically lenient.”

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Bipartisan ‘red flag’ gun laws plan has support in Congress

Despite frequent mass shootings, Congress has proved to be unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation.

But a bipartisan proposal by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is gaining momentum following weekend mass shootings in Texas and Ohio that left 31 people dead. The emerging plan would create a federal grant program to encourage states to adopt “red flag” laws to take guns away from people believed to be dangers to themselves or others.

A similar bill never came up for a vote in the GOP-controlled Senate last year, but both parties express hope that this year will be different. President Trump has signaled support for the plan.

“We must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms and that if they do those firearms can be taken through rapid due process,” Trump said in a White House speech on Monday.

Many mass shootings “involved individuals who showed signs of violent behavior that are either ignored or not followed up on,” said Graham, chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee. “State red flag laws will provide the tools for law enforcement to do something about many of these situations before it’s too late.”

In an interview Tuesday, Blumenthal said there’s “a growing wave of support on both sides of the aisle” for the red flag plan — more momentum in fact “than any other gun violence plan” being debated in Congress, including a proposal Blumenthal supports to require universal background checks for gun purchases.

A closer look at red flag laws, which have been adopted by at least 17 states and the District of Columbia, including a law set to take effect Aug. 24 in New York. Most of the laws have been approved since the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

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New York lawmakers introduce bill making dumping water on cops a felony

Two New York state assemblymen plan to introduce legislation that would make it a felony to attack police officers with water after videos of citizens doing so sparked outrage across the country.

"This is disgraceful," Assemblyman Mike LiPetri of Long Island said of the incidents. "The men and women in blue are people in our neighborhoods. Let us not forget that these officers took a sacred oath ... We believe it is time that we return to a society that understands the fundamental belief in right versus wrong."

The measure, introduced by LiPetri and fellow assemblyman Michael Reilly of Staten Island, would make it a Class E felony to throw or spray water or any other substance at an on-duty police or peace officer. The charge would be punishable by up to 1 to 4 years in prison, according to local media reports.

"It's uncalled for, this behavior that actually demoralizes our communities," Reilly said during a press conference Monday. "The [Democrats] all talk about due process when it it convenient for them."

President Trump, a New York City native, weighed in on the water dumping incidents in New York earlier this month, saying it was disgraceful.

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