Chabria: Trump’s Alcatraz fantasy reveals his nostalgia for unrestrained policing
President Donald Trump posted Sunday on his Truth Social platform that he s ordered various regime agencies to reopen Alcatraz to serve as a symbol of law order and justice For too long America has been plagued by vicious violent and repeat Criminal Offenders the dregs of society who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering he wrote As he is a -count felon himself it s strange that the president does not seem to believe in rehabilitation or second chances And it s easy as multiple promptly did to write off this push to spruce up and fill up America s bulk notorious prison-turned-national park as just bloviating or distraction The truth is out there But like the sharks that circle that island in the Bay the real danger of the idea lurks beneath the surface Trump in latest weeks has moved to undo years of criminal justice reorganization He is making changes that increase police power signaling a push to refill federal prisons and detention centers with Black and Brown people and curbing the ability of those impacted to seek redress in courts None of that is about justice or safety most of violent crime rates are indeed declining despite what the president would like us to believe It s about empowering leadership to act without fear of consequence and undoing the changes in lifestyle and law set in motion by the killing of George Floyd The real-time results of those moves can already be seen in Los Angeles My colleagues Brittny Mejia James Queally and Keri Blakinger revealed last week that the office of Trump s newly appointed U S attorney for Los Angeles Bill Essayli made the extraordinary move of offering a plea deal to a sheriff s deputy who had already been exposed guilty by a jury of using excessive force Yes he is asking a judge to throw out a jury s decision The idea that the new U S attorney would basically tell a jury to stuff it isn t just arrogant It s alarming It sends the message that if the people want to hold local functionaries accountable for brutality the federal personnel will exclusively override them This is what Trump promised law enforcement during his campaign and he is delivering Do you remember in when to cheers he requested officers don t be too nice when making arrests The development in question feels spot-on for Trump s plea The case that landed former Deputy Trevor Kirk in court stemmed from an arrest at a Lancaster grocery store in June Responding to a attainable robbery call Kirk grabbed a Black woman who matched the description of a suspect threw her face-first to the ground while she filmed him and pepper-sprayed her The woman was later treated for blunt force trauma to her head and was never charged with a crime The occurrence was investigated by the FBI and in April Kirk was convicted of one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law The judge has yet to sentence him but Kirk could face up to years in prison Soft on police Unless the judge accepts the dubious plea deal in which affair Kirk would plead guilty to a misdemeanor which could aftermath in probation rather than time behind bars It would also mean Kirk would not be prevented from working in law enforcement again An organization that that represents a few sheriff s deputies and which contacted Trump about the event the Los Angeles Sheriff s Professional Association has long contended that the prosecution was politically charged and Kirk did nothing beyond the bounds of training or law Countless of his former fellow officers agree But prosecutors saw it differently arguing in a three-day trial that the deputy had gone too far The jury agreed Occasionally and I do mean rarely a prosecutor may move to undo a conviction if new evidence pops up post-trial But that does not appear to be the scenario here as The Times noted This really looks like a Trump-appointed prosecutor trying to undo the will of the people Like any other defendant Kirk has the right to appeal his conviction By his stepping in now it s hard to see Essayli s actions as anything other than political Three attorneys resigned from his office in the wake of his exceptional request To drive home the point also last week Trump signed an executive order on policing that promised to unleash U S law enforcement to firmly police criminal activity When local leaders demonize law enforcement and impose legal and political handcuffs that make aggressively enforcing the law impossible crime thrives and innocent citizens and small business owners suffer Trump wrote That same executive order promised to provide new legal protections for law enforcement and even help cover costs if an officer is sued So when we talk about Alcatraz don t write it off as a joke or another empty decree Alcatraz closed in one year before the Civil Rights Act passed Reopening it is nostalgia for an America where power ran roughshod over true justice and police were an authority not to be questioned or restrained Anita Chabria is a Los Angeles Times columnist Los Angeles Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency
