The Independence Hall Foundation, the organization which sponsored the recent Delaware Valley Pro-Blue Rally, condemns the secret meeting taking place in Philadelphia, today, between US Attorney General Eric Holder and unnamed members of the local community.
Newsworks and Philadelphia Magazine reported the story, and neither news organization named any participants other than Eric Holder.
Here's a direct quote from Philadelphia Magazine:
"U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will visit Philly today to talk about policing issues, Newsworks reports but only to a select group of officials meeting behind closed doors."
Rob Kane, who studies police authority and accountability at Drexel University, said the Obama administration is in the midst of a "legitimacy crisis in American urban policing." It was sparked, he said, in part by grand juries failing to indict police officers in Ferguson and Staten Island.
Kane said keeping the speech closed to the public helps maintain an orderly audience and creates a platform for delivering an uninterrupted message.
"If you're up on stage, and you're trying to convey a point and look as if you have control over a situation, then you don't want to be heckled, and you don't want it on camera that you're being heckled, or facing resistance," Kane said.
"Why all the secrecy behind the meeting?" asks Foundation spokesperson, Teri Adams.
"Community Policing is a local matter--not a federal one. The Obama Administration has no business trying to direct local policing--especially from behind closed doors."
"While there's nothing wrong with having discussions about the way in which law enforcement conducts itself, there is something wrong with holding secret meetings at the behest of the top law enforcement agent in the country.
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