Oscar Grant, Treyvon Martin, Kelly Thomas -- It seems that some local police departments are unwilling or unable to protect our constitutional rights. The justice department provides some oversight, but needs to do more. We need federal standards for law enforcement accountability and we need a federal agency capable of rapidly dismantling and replacing failing departments. The FDIC provides a good model: Local police departments fund the program by purchasing insurance. Accountability is top-down. If a department is strongly suspected of being insolvent -- for example, caught on video murdering a citizen -- on Friday, the Feds come in, sack the chief and have a new department up and running on Monday.
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