CHICAGO, IL- Jimmy Lee Tillman, II founder of the Martin Luther King Republicans and its members are calling for outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder to dedicate the remaining mark of his tenure focused on police misconduct. The Department of Justice should promptly begin collecting data and issuing a nationwide report on police misconduct as mandated.   In 1994, the Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act, that was the result of a six year bipartisan effort, required that the DOJ and the Attorney General collect stats on the extent of brutality and excessive force used by police officers, and to publish an annual report on the collected data. 

Tillman remarks, “There is not much data on police use of excessive force because law enforcement agencies must self-report.  Also, the term “excessive force” is also open to interpretation and many times police agencies are unwilling to report on themselves. The International Association for Chiefs of Police, which put together a report back in 2001, made very little efforts at collecting data and has not produced anything since then.”

“Clinton’s Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act was the largest crime bill in America’s history. It has affected our community more than any other. It is important for citizens to know the outcome after two decades of implementation. In the wake of the Ferguson, MO incident and the countless others that are surfacing in the recent months Holder should not leave office without initiating the gathering of data pertaining to this sense of widespread abuse.”

“This is why I am in support of the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act which would prevent the transfer of certain military-grade equipment from the Department of Defense to local law enforcement agencies. Where is the national data to support the need for such equipment or national data to show if these type of military equipment are properly used and not excessive? And with law enforcement officers safer now than any recorded time, how can any law enforcement department justify the need for more weaponry and armor?”