CELEBRATE!!! KANSAS CITY COGNRESSMAN CLEAVER INTRODUCES 'FAIR JUSTICE ACT' AGAINST USING POLICE FOR PROFIT!!!



Here's a remarkable bit of legislation in the aftermath of #Ferguson that should mean fewer tickets and red light cameras for Kansas City in practical terms.

To wit . . .

CHECK CONGRESSMAN CLEAVER'S "FAIR JUSTICE ACT' INTRO AGAINST CITIES USING POLICE FOR PROFIT!!!

The money quote:

“It is a common practice of certain law enforcement officials of state and local municipalities to target communities solely for profit,” said Congressman Cleaver. “Americans of all stripes have faced this, but there can be no doubt that minorities and low-income residents have faced the brunt of this. Make no mistake, the Fair Justice Act is needed now more than ever, in order to finally put an end to criminal and traffic law enforcement activities motivated solely by raising revenue,” said Congressman Cleaver.

Here are the deets with another quote highlight:

Congressman Cleaver Announces Introduction of The Fair Justice Act

Legislation would make it a civil rights violation to enforce criminal or traffic laws for the purpose of raising revenue.

Today, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (MO-05) in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Selma, and in response to the tragic events of Ferguson, announced his plan to introduce a bill to ban criminal and traffic law enforcement activities motivated by revenue raising purposes.

Announcing introduction of the Fair Justice Act, Congressman Cleaver stated:

"The time has come to end the practice of using law enforcement as a cash register, a practice that has impacted too many Americans and has disproportionately affected minority and low-income communities. No American should have to face arbitrary police enforcement, the sole purpose of which is to raise revenue for a town, city, or state.”

Congressman Cleaver's Fair Justice Act would make it a civil rights violation, punishable by up to five years in prison, to enforce criminal or traffic laws solely to raise revenue. Thus, no official or agency of a state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision may adopt a policy or engage in any activity that authorizes, promotes, or executes the enforcement of criminal, civil, or traffic laws for the purpose of raising revenue.

This legislation will help prevent the kind of reprehensible activities that occurred in Ferguson, Missouri, where the Department of Justice found that Ferguson's law enforcement practices were shaped by the city's overwhelming focus on raising revenue rather than protecting the public.
“It is a common practice of certain law enforcement officials of state and local municipalities to target communities solely for profit,” said Congressman Cleaver. “Americans of all stripes have faced this, but there can be no doubt that minorities and low-income residents have faced the brunt of this. Make no mistake, the Fair Justice Act is needed now more than ever, in order to finally put an end to criminal and traffic law enforcement activities motivated solely by raising revenue,” said Congressman Cleaver.

Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the results of the Department of Justice’s investigation of the Ferguson police department. The report provided a searing account of unconstitutional police practices motivated by the purpose of generating revenue. The DOJ reported that police work disproportionately targeted minorities in generating revenue from fines and fees, rather than protecting the community.

President Barack Obama recently stated, in light of the report, that, “[w]hat we saw was that the Ferguson Police Department, in conjunction with the municipality, saw traffic stops, arrests, tickets as a revenue generator, as opposed to serving the community, and that it systematically was biased against African-Americans in that city who were stopped, harassed, mistreated, abused, called names, fined.”

Additionally, The U.S. Department of Justice report on the Ferguson Police Department offers examples of other unfortunate incidents in recent years outside of Ferguson and across the United States:

- In Jennings, Missouri a new lawsuit alleges that the court system has almost exclusively black defendants, who are routinely sent to jail for failing to pay minor traffic fines.

- In Alabama, which has made heavy budget cuts to court funding, several lawsuits contend that local courts perpetuate a cycle of steep fines for minor offenses, and jail those who cannot pay.

- In California, residents in the predominantly Latino community of southeast L.A. County have complained for years that they are unfairly targeted by city officials for profit. Citizens allege that the city extracted tens of thousands of dollars from plumbers, carpet cleaners, even people scavenging for bottles and cans, by seizing vehicles for alleged code violations, and then pressuring the owners to pay arbitrary fines. Additionally, it was reported that local law enforcement officers targeted immigrants in the U.S. without proper papers by using towing schemes. Police would pull over drivers simply to impound their cars, forcing the drivers to pay large impound fees.

Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Blue Springs, Grain Valley, Oak Grove, North Kansas City, Gladstone, Claycomo, and all of Ray, Lafayette, and Saline Counties. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, and also a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus.
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Comments

  1. Reform won't get it this time. Close the prisons and shut down the police state!

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  2. The time has come to STFU already!

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  3. Follow the driving laws and you won't have to worry about red light cameras and tickets.

    Think hard now!

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  4. Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance to the music!!!

    Jus' had to thrown that in to the silliness mix.

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  5. Fuck Cleaver and his idiotic justice act

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  6. Great job Cleaver

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  7. For empty-headed duds like Cleaver, pandering NEVER goes out of style.
    Why doesn't someone take a look at the budget/court fines ratios in KC while he was mayor?

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  8. Not that he knows a lot about profit, given the financial performance of his car wash.

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  9. Good by Lake Winnebago PD.

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  10. Holy Crap! If they pass this it will take decades to retrain KCPD. Wait a minute! Didn't Cleaver play a major role in acquiring money for the cities red light cams? If they weren't city cash machines what the hell is? Oh I see, he';ll take credit for the legislation, but it won't change anything until he specifically identifies the activities that are designed to generate cash for cities? Smart move ass clown. How about requiring all city fine moneis to go to the state coffers and making it illegal for cities to fine period? Oh sorry - can't be putting a national bureaucracy out of business. Sounds like this bill is dead in the water to me.

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  11. Correction:

    "“It is a common practice of certain political officials of state and local municipalities to target communities solely for profit,” said Congressman Carwash. “Americans of all stripes have faced this, but there can be no doubt that taxpayers have faced the brunt of this. Make no mistake, the Fair Justice Act is needed now more than ever, in order to finally put an end to criminal and carwash loan activities motivated solely by raising revenue,” said Congressman Carwash."

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  12. ...and it's pure profit if you don't pay your loan payments.

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  13. Maybe this should come to Kansas. The Prairie Village Police require their officers to make a minimum ticket quota or face punishment. They don't care about any other work an officer does- only ticket numbers.

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  14. Pay your car wash loan, deadbeat. Also, don't speed or break the law. That fucking simple.

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