While the capital may be politically monolithic, most of its police live outside the city — in many cases making long commutes from places that aren’t dotted with Black Lives Matter yard signs. | Alex Brandon/AP PhotoMichael Schaffer is a senior editor at POLITICO. His Capital City column runs weekly in POLITICO Magazine.
The idea of a local officer with extremist ties was certainly no surprise to Michael Fanone, the former D.C. cop who became a national figure after being nearly killed by the mob on Jan. 6. Fanone’s memoir last year painted a grim picture of a racially riven local police force riddled with insurrection sympathizers even after scores of officers risked their lives defending the Capitol.
The arrest also didn’t shock Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a civil rights attorney who has spent years in litigation with the department, often on behalf of protesters who claimed to have been mistreated. Tarrio and three other members of the organization, identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, were convicted earlier this month of seditious conspiracy and face a possible 20 years in prison. It’s hard to believe the timing of Tarrio’s conviction and Lamond’s indictment are unrelated.
Lamond has pleaded not guilty, and it’s likely that his defense will be that he was doing his job: Cops work unsavory sources all the time, developing a rapport in order to bring in information. As an intelligence officer, he was supposed to anticipate potential disturbances — a mission that involves charming people like Tarrio so they open up.
What is different from the rest of the country, as we learned on Jan. 6, is that local police in Washington are also part of the defense of the Capitol, sometimes heroically so. | Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images But Fanone, now a law enforcement analyst for CNN, says that misunderstands the challenges preoccupying the folks atop his old department, and police forces across the country.
For their part, D.C. officials have denounced the congressional meddling as undemocratic, bad-faith grandstanding, saying Congress should mind its own business and let Washingtonians handle local affairs just like other Americans.
Law Law Latest News, Law Law Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: Newsweek - 🏆 468. / 52 Read more »