Free Republic

President Obama on Thursday signed an executive order officially creating a “Task Force on 21st Century Policing,” a high-level group that will report directly to the president with recommendations on how to strengthen ties between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Mr. Obama first announced the task earlier this month on the heels of unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City, where the deaths of black men at the hands of police officers further fractured ties between police departments and citizens. The task force will be chaired by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and Laurie Robinson, a professor...

Laurie Robinson, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) under Attorney General Eric Holder, is leaving the Department of Justice (DOJ), according to an announcement released just before the start of the Iowa caucuses. "Laurie Robinson has helped transform OJP’s role in the criminal and juvenile justice field, bringing scientific rigor, a true sense of partnership, transparency, and accountability to the agency," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement on her departure at the end of February. "I am proud of her service to OJP’s constituents, the Department of Justice and the Obama Administration and personally...