Retiring U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald: "He Was Really Something Special".

Politicians were dancing and singing all in Chicago after U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced he would step down, says Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass. "I can hear the champagne corks popping all the way over here, and I'm in Virginia," said banker and Illinois' former U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (no relation), the Republican who sacrificed his political career by recommending Pat Fitzgerald. Patrick Fitzgerald, the political untouchable who terrified the bipartisan Combine that runs Illinois, spent nearly 11 years fighting corruption and crime here. He's served enough. He and his wife have two young children. Balancing the prosecutor's job and a family has got to be impossible.

The score card: Two successive governors in prison on corruption charges, the bosses of the Chicago Outfit, and other crooked payrollers too numerous to count. "Pat Fitzgerald went after corruption. He was untouchable. The Combine couldn't get near him. He put the blindfold back on justice in Chicago," Peter Fitzgerald said. "He went after wrongdoing wherever he found it, high and low, at City Hall, in the Republican White House, regardless of politics. He was really something special." Pat Fitzgerald will step down officially June 30. Speculation involves whether he'll be named FBI director, a job he wanted. Peter Fitzgerald was inspired to find an untouchable after reading the biography of Chicago Tribune publisher Col. Robert McCormick. The Colonel was warring with Al Capone and asked President Herbert Hoover to send untouchables to hunt down the gangster.

Seattle Police: Federal Reform Proposals Wildly Unrealistic, Expensive

The Seattle Police Department is objecting to reforms proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice as wildly unrealistic and expensive, reports the Associated Press. The Department of Justice presented a proposal to the city in March, after finding that Seattle police regularly used illegal force, often for minor offenses. AP reviewed a copy of the proposal, which shows the DOJ wants the city to change policies, add training for officers, and hire more sergeants to supervise patrol officers. The city would agree to the appointment of an outside monitor, at city expense.

A Seattle police analysis takes issue with the supposed $41 million annual cost of the changes, as well as four- to six-month timelines to implement many of them.  "Plainly stated, the overwhelming majority of programs proposed by DOJ cannot be implemented in less than one to three years, if at all," the analysis says. "These timelines can only be described as impossible and prompt serious questions about the analytical thoroughness and organizational experience of those who proposed them." Mayor Mike McGinn and other city officials will submit a counterproposal this week.

Seattle Mayor: DOJ Police Plan Could Cost $41 Million; Figure Disputed

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn says it could cost up to $41 million a year to pay for the U.S. Justice Department's proposed remedies to curtail excessive force...

DOJ: We Don't Know How Many Execs Convicted of Financial Crimes

The U.S. Justice Department says it doesn't know how many executives have been convicted of wrongdoing in the financial crisis of 2008-2009, the Wall Street Journal reports. That is because the department doesn't keep count of the numbers of board-level prosecutions, it told Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), top Republican on the Judiciary Committee.

Commentators say it shouldn't be difficult to gt the numbers. "It's not a big number to count, that's for sure," said Chris Swecker, who ran the FBI's criminal division from 2004 to 2006. William Black, a former bank regulator, notes that the Government Accountability Office produced such numbers in a 1993 report on the savings-and-loan crisis of a generation ago. "I can tell you why you wouldn't keep the data" now, he said. "Because it would be really embarrassing." The full article is available only to paid subscribers.

The Justice Department as ‘Change Agent’

By Ted Gest

The Crime Report engages former Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson in a wide-ranging conversation on the country’s evolving and future criminal justice challenges.

DOJ Sues AZ's Arpaio, Calling It "An Abuse of Power Case"

The Justice Department lawsuit against Maricopa County, Az., sheriff Joe Arpaio asks a federal court to prevent the brazen and outspoken lawman from racially profiling Latinos, abusing them in his jails, and retaliating against his critics, says the Los Angeles Times. "The police are supposed to protect and support our community, not divide them," said Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, head of the Justice Department's civil rights division. "This is an abuse of power case involving a sheriff and a sheriff's office that has ignored the Constitution."

The lawsuit, filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, alleges that Arpaio's department engages in a "pattern of unconstitutional conduct" against Latinos, especially immigrants. Justice Department officials in Washington are asking the court to name an independent monitor to oversee the sheriff's office, develop reform policies to better staff the jails and patrol the county, and possibly find Arpaio and other top sheriff's officials in contempt of court if they do not make changes in a community whose Latino population has grown by 47 percent over the last decade. The sheriff issued a 17-page document called "Integrity, Accountability, Community" that addressed some of the issues, but Perez called it "largely an admission of the problem."

To Cut Pittsburgh Police Complaints, U.S. Attorney to Train on Civil Rights

In a move aimed at averting lawsuits alleging officer misconduct, Pittsburgh officials are arranging for the U.S. attorney's office to provide training...

Feds Seek Seattle Police Monitor Who Would Serve as "Shadow Chief"

Five months after the U.S. Department of Justice found a "pattern and practice" of excessive force by Seattle police, city officials face a deadline next...

Ex-Attorney General Katzenbach Dies; Headed LBJ Crime Panel

Nicholas Katzenbach, who served as U.S. Attorney General under President Lyndon B. Johnson has died at 90. Although Katzenbach was best known...

Sheriff Arpaio Issues Reform Plan on Eve of Justice Department Lawsuit

On the eve of the U.S. Justice Department's anticipated filing of a lawsuit alleging racial profiling by the Maricopa County, Az., Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Joe Arpaio unveiled the most public effort to overhaul the office since he took the job nearly 20 years ago, the Arizona Republic reports. Justice was expected to sue Arpaio today. Sheriff's officials were under no impression that the reform plan would stop the Justice Department from taking legal action. They hope the initiative will provide a framework for improvement within the Sheriff's Office while the legal dispute makes its way through court.

The sheriff's initiative focuses on community outreach, accountability within the agency, transparency in how the office conducts its operations, and more robust data collection. The goal is to improve the Sheriff's Office and build trust within certain segments of the community. "We've been talking about this philosophy for months, and we finally decided -- the sheriff decided -- it's no longer time to sit on our hands waiting for the Department of Justice to take us to court. Let's do something about it," Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan said.

Seattle Cop Leading Response to DOJ Cleared Amid Finger-Pointing

An assistant Seattle police chief was cleared by prosecutors of criminal misconduct allegations that grew out of his handling of a traffic accident involving his daughter, donations he solicited for a charity, and preparations for a promotion exam for prospective sergeants, the Seattle Times reports. Assistant chief Mike Sanford now will face an internal investigation and possible outside review by the city's ethics board.

The case has exposed deep rifts and finger-pointing within the department, at a time when it has come under intense scrutiny over December findings by the U.S. Justice Department that officers regularly use excessive force. Sanford, 51, who commands the Patrol Operations Bureau and oversees five police precincts, is leading the department's response to the federal civil-rights investigation, devising a detailed plan to address the Justice Department's concerns as the city and federal attorneys negotiate a settlement.

Tackling Gang Violence

By Taylor Dungjen

Two Ohio cities apply a new strategy to reduce youth homicides.

Laurie Robinson Named to Faculty at Virginia's George Mason University

Laurie Robinson, former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice, will join the faculty of George Mason University faculty this fall as Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society. She will teach courses related to criminology policy and practice, as well as government. She was named a senior fellow with the university's Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy.

At the Justice Department, Robinson oversaw a $2.5 billion criminal justice assistance program for states and localities, as well as research and statistics on to crime and justice. During two tenures at DOJ spanning 10 years, she led initiatives related to law enforcement, drug abuse, corrections, and evidence-based programming. Robinson formerly directed the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Science Program in Criminology, and served as a distinguished senior scholar in Penn’s Jerry Lee Center of Criminology. She is not related to the late Clarence J. Robinson, a businessman and civic leader in Northern Virginia who funded the scholars program bearing his name.

Crime and Justice Trends in America: How We Got Here; Where We Go Next

By Ted Gest

Eight of America's leading criminal justice scholars look back over four decades of analysis--and draw lessons for future policy and research.

U.S. Drops Conviction Over Hair Evidence, Critics Seek National Review