This petition is submitted to request that the policy of the Department of Justice be changed so that any death of a member of a protected class, at the hands of police or while that person is in police custody, is automatically investigated to determine whether there the crime known as "Deprivation of rights under color of law", described at 18 U.S.C. 242, has been committed.
This is necessary because the recent rash of deaths of people of color while in police custody has deteriorated public trust of police; at worse, there are systemic problems that need to be addressed, and at best, the perception of the police has been badly damaged. In either case, as can be seen by the recent tragedy in Dallas, something must be done about this situation.