Police Reform In Delaware Must Start At The Top…Of The Delaware General Assembly

We know what we have in John Carney: Someone whose jellyfish proclivities impelled him to cave to the gun store owners in the early days of the COVID pandemic. 

We think we know what we have in AG Kathleen Jennings: Someone who is receptive to reform, but is somewhat circumscribed by the mutual dependency of the Department Of Justice and the law enforcement community.

Which brings us to the one body that can enact police reform–The Delaware General Assembly.  Of course, the Delaware General Assembly has passed legislation that essentially places the police above the law.  Primarily, though not exclusively, in the form of the ‘Police Bill Of Rights’.   Not only can police use force with impunity, any record of misconduct on their part is confidential:

Police disciplinary records are confidential under Delaware’s Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights and the privacy exemption to the Delaware Freedom of Information Act.

You should really read that Bill Of Rights in its entirety just to understand how the legal protections afforded officers are far more generous than those afforded the usual suspect.  At the least, hiding the malfeasance of bad cops from the public is a threat to the public.

You also should check out the ‘use of force’ statute.  Bottom line: Except under certain restricted circumstances, a cop can use deadly force if he/she ‘believes’ that one of any number of eventualities is in effect.  Meaning, and I’m no attorney, that in order to prosecute an officer for excessive use of force, you would have to disprove what the officer claims to have believed. How do you do that?  Former AG Matt Denn basically admitted that he couldn’t.

These statutes are only the beginning. We haven’t yet addressed the rights of police to steal stuff with impunity, and to convert their booty into more money for cops (Read the cited article, it’ll make most of you real angry).  We haven’t discussed the cops accessing military-type weaponry to ‘police’.  Gee, you’d think that the cops would be on the front line of supporting an end to assault weaponry in the hands of private citizens, but instead they surreptitiously support suppression of such legislation.  Gee, I wonder what they have in their private stashes…of weapons, I mean. They probably get all the drugs they can use/sell through ‘civil forfeiture’. And if you think that’s too harsh a statement, I say lift the cloak of police secrecy and let us see just how ethical the police are when such lucre falls into their hands.

Which brings us to the General Assembly.  Jea Street, who has a way of cutting to the chase, said it best. The Delaware General Assembly is “basically run by former police officers and they got a lock on it.” 

The Delaware House Of Representatives is literally run by two ex-cops and a legislator who owes her generous salary to the cops.  Even by Delaware standards, the composition of the Delaware Democratic House leadership is hard to fathom.

Speaker Of The House Pete Schwartzkopf is a ‘retired Delaware State Police captain and troop commander with 25 years of service‘.  Once he got his legislative gig, he served for awhile as the ‘Director Of Security’ for the Delaware State Fair. He has been most recently seen/heard threatening peaceful protesters:

Separately on Wednesday, Delaware House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf said activists who decide to peacefully protest when there’s “a 50-50 chance it’s going to turn violent,” should be “held accountable if something bad happens.”

Schwartzkopf, a retired police officer and the leading Democrat in the House, did not state what that accountability would look like. His district will host a protest on Friday at 4 pm. in Rehoboth Beach.

Let’s parse this out: Was Schwartzkopf, as the Speaker Of The House, threatening that organizers should be held accountable if there was some violence (50-50 chance, my ass)? Was he speaking as his former Badass Cop Self? Was he speaking on behalf of the Democratic House Caucus?  Did he even bother to speak to members of the caucus before he issued his intemperate remarks? And why was he sticking his nose into this in the first place? 

I have another, more important, question. This is to all of the members of the House Democratic Caucus:  Is this the person you want leading the Delaware General Assembly at a time when calls for police reform have grown exponentially?  Feel free to provide your answers in the comments section.  Remember, silence = complicity. 

House Majority Leader Val Longhurst still lists herself as a ‘full-time legislator’.  This can only be true if her job as Executive Director Of the Delaware Police Athletic League is literally a no-show job.  Which it might be, but she still gets paid very well for not showing up. At least $75 K per year.  (BTW, just for fun, see how many Board members’ names you recognize.)  Time for a trip in the Wayback Machine to relive how Longhurst miraculously secured this position.

My favorite li(n)e:

“Nobody handed me this job,” she said.

She literally has her job because of the police.  She will only keep it as long as the police are happy with her.  To all of the members of the House Democratic Caucus:  Is this the person you want leading the Democratic Caucus at a time when calls for police reform have grown exponentially?  Feel free to provide your answers in the comments section.  Remember, silence = complicity. 

House Majority Whip Larry Mitchell. Mitchell replaced labor’s designated sop, John Viola, in leadership.  Viola is/was a backbencher who has now returned to the back bench. Presumably perfect for some father-daughter chats.  Mitchell has had even more police involvement than Speaker Pete.  From his bio:

For over 30 years, Representative Mitchell has devoted his career to protecting public safety and improving the quality of life for Delawareans. He began his career as a member of the Elsmere Police Department and eventually moved on to the New Castle County Police Department where he retired in early 2006 with the rank of Senior Sergeant. Upon retiring from the police force, Representative Mitchell immediately became the Campus Chief of Public Safety for Delaware Technical and Community College which is a position he continues to hold.

And, there’s this:

He is a former President and State Lodge Vice President of the Delaware State Fraternal Order of Police.

Mitchell is in Dover to represent two constituencies: The cops and Del-Tech.  As a member of the PAL Board of Directors, he likely voted to confirm our PAL Val for Executive Director.  Then he got a caucus leadership position.

The cops are three for three when it comes to the House Leadership Team. (The Rethugs don’t really count, all they do is vote no anyway.)

To all of the members of the House Democratic Caucus:  Is this the team you want leading the Democratic Caucus at a time when calls for police reform have grown exponentially?  Feel free to provide your answers in the comments section.  Remember, silence = complicity. 

I would suggest that all of you who have D’s as your State Reps would do well to ask these questions of your representatives.  And share their answers with us.

Time for a brief moment for all of us to breathe.  Without cheating (I had to cheat), name the other retired police officer who is a member of the House Democratic Caucus.  Here’s a hint, this legislator also worked for a well-known political ne’er-do-well. 

OK, kids, you may be thinking, ‘This is all well and good, but what can/should we do about it?”  Here’s what:

1. Hold your elected representatives accountable. Demand answers and demand commitments.  If you don’t get them, vote for an alternative if you have one.  Madinah Wilson-Anton, Larry Lambert, and Eric Morrison could well be upgrades on the issue of police reform.  Maybe the heretofore anonymous Amy. Solomon is an upgrade as well, I don’t know. At least, it’s worth finding out as Gerald Brady has always been a cop groupie. Work to elect Debbie Harrington over Kevin Hensley.  Work to elect Stephanie Barry over Mike Ramone.  This is stuff you can do.

2. After the elections, work hard to develop support for police reform.  It will not be easy.  Even if we elect a couple more enlightened Democrats, there are still several members of the Democratic Caucus who have not shown any leadership on this issue.  I’ll name them, why not?:  Gerald Brady, Debra Heffernan (we need to see more, especially in that district), Quinn Johnson,  the Leadership Troika,  John Viola (seriously, John, in your district, not a fucking word? Retire, and take your clueless daughter with you), Earl Jaques and Lumpy Carson (neither of whom appear to be on social media), and Andria Viola Bennett.  BTW, for all you math wizards out there, please give me the formula that best illustrates the legislative careers of John Viola and Andria Viola Bennett.  Nah, I’m not waiting for you on this one:

2 times zero equals zero.

While the Senate Democratic leadership doesn’t boast any ex-cops in its membership, President President Pro-Tem Dave McBride and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Poore have crushed progressive initiatives at every turn, most recently common-sense gun control legislation even after they had publicly pledged to run those bills. The cops and the building trades unions have fought D attempts for reasonable reform.  There’s a lot of racism in  both groups. (BTW, what was the name of that terrible News Journal reporter who went to work for the Senate D’s?  Doesn’t look like he can even be bothered to produce original material for McBride and Poore.  Their Facebook posts are, to put it mildly, similar. You won’t find a word about the protests on either.)  Any successful push for reasonable police reform will require different leaders.  Prospects on the Senate side may, may be slightly stronger than they are in the House.  You have some top-notch senators with solid progressive credentials who could end up in leadership: Bryan Townsend, who is already there; Tizzy Lockman, who has all the potential in the world; and Dave Sokola, who could be something of a consensus pick for Pro-Tem.  You also have Darius Brown, Laura Sturgeon, and will have Sarah McBride, who replaces a pretty darn good progressive in his own right in Harris McDowell. You also have Trey Paradee and Stephanie Hansen who, depending on the issues, are ‘gettable’.

Believe it or not, even Colin Bonini has been a sponsor of legislation that would do away with civil forfeiture.

There’s hope for the Senate, but here’s what you can do to help make police reform a reality:

1.  First and foremost, do everything you can to help Marie Pinkney to defeat Dave McBride.  Not only would this replace a neanderthal with a progressive, but it would send the message loud and clear that business as usual will not be tolerated.  She has the demographics on her side and she’s incredible.  Plus, she lives in the district as opposed to Beachcomber Dave.

2. Help Kyle Evans Gay to defeat Cathy Cloutier.  When Cloutier says that she’s ‘really a Democrat’, she means that she will only cast votes on behalf of Democrats that the cops and the trade unions will  permit her to cast. I can guarantee you that a vote for Gay is a vote for a more progressive leadership team in the Senate.  Cloutier has been playing this pathetic game for over 20 years now.  Time to send her back to Hockessin, where she lives and which is not even in her district.

I’m not sure whether we will find a moderately more progressive alternative to ex-cop Bruce Ennis in the 14th SD, but we should keep our eye on it and jump in if there’s a viable primary challenger. I’m also not sure that it would be better if Democrat Jaci Hugg defeats Rethug ex-cop Dave Lawson.  Nothing she has posted indicates she’s even thought about this issue. Meaning, it’s difficult to envision her supporting more progressive leaders in the Senate.

There’s lots more to be done outside of the General Assembly.  But 2000 words begin to challenge my attention span, and, I suspect, yours.

So that’s an article for another day.