North State Journal for Wednesday, July 13, 2016
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NATION& WORLD Lawmakers grill U.S. Justice Dept. head over Clinton investigation
NEWS IN IMAGES
By Julia Harte Reuters
JONATHAN BACHMAN | REUTERS
Protestor Ieshia Evans is detained by law enforcement near the headquarters of the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge, La., on July 9.
ALESSANDRO GAROFALO | REUTERS
Rescuers work at the site where two passenger trains collided in the middle of an olive grove in the southern village of Corato, near Bari, Italy, July 12.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch faced lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday to defend the U.S. Justice Department’s decision not to bring charges against Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Lynch and FBI Director James Comey have faced criticism from Republican lawmakers since Comey’s testimony last week recommended no criminal charges to be brought against Clinton because the FBI did not think there was strong enough evidence Clinton acted with bad intent. However, two days later, Comey told a Congressional hearing any of his employees who handled emails the way Clinton did could be subject to dismissal or loss of security clearance. Lynch was not responsive to questions during Tuesday’s hearing when asked why her department decided not to file charges after the yearlong investigation, keeping her answers short and referring such questions to the FBI instead. “Lynch has no intention of answering ... even the most basic questions
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch is sworn in to testify before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. July 12.
JONATHAN ERNST | REUTERS
about the legal elements the government is obligated to prove in a criminal prosecution,” said House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a Republican, in a statement his staff released one hour into the hearing. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers on the committee took the opportunity to ask Lynch about a separate range of issues, from tighter gun control in the wake of shootings of clubgoers and police in Orlando and Dallas, as well as ways to reduce fatal shootings of African-Americans by police amid ongoing protests over the issue.
New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler asked Lynch what she thought of the pro-gun rights adage that “the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” in light of the fact the Dallas police officers shot last week were armed. “The issue, as usual, doesn’t really lend itself well to aphorisms and short statements,” Lynch replied. Republican lawmakers told Lynch the decision to not prosecute Clinton created the impression the Justice Department has a “double standard” when it comes to seasoned Democratic politicians such as Clinton.
Tribunal overwhelmingly rejects Beijing’s South China Sea claims By Ben Blanchard & Anthony Deutsch fered with traditional Filipino fishing
Reuters
ERIK DE CASTRO | REUTERS
Activists who traveled to disputed Scarborough Shoal and were blocked by the Chinese coast guard a few months ago celebrate July 12 at a restaurant in Manila, Philippines, after an arbitration court in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a dispute over the South China Sea.
PETER NICHOLLS | REUTERS
Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May, who is due to take over as prime minister on Wednesday, in central London on July 12.
MCCRORY from page A1 this technology had to make law enforcement more accountable to community members.” However, McCrory stated that the law strikes a balance between transparency and fairness to all involved in release of footage. “We want to expedite contrasted disclosure through a fair process, which ensures transparency for both the general public and our communities, and our public safety officials.” said McCrory. “It’s better to have rules and guidelines with all this technology than to have no rules and guidelines whatsoever.” McCrory described the shortfalls of holding footage indefinitely as potentially damaging public trust, evidenced by the public backlash in Chicago when footage of a police shooting was held from the public for more than a year. McCrory also stated that immediate public releases of footage often distort the full picture and unfairly endanger law enforcement. He cited anti-police sentiment and recent attacks on officers in Dallas as a danger in indiscriminately releasing footage that may not tell the whole story. Sgt. Gerald Takano, a 25-year veteran of the Raleigh Police Department, agrees with the approach. “All that has to be taken in context,” said Takano. “And a camera doesn’t tell you what I saw and how I perceived what I saw, and how I’m decision making. ... A camera doesn’t really tell everything. It gives you pictures so you can say, ‘Hey, what were you thinking? What did you see here?’” Takano believes body-worn cameras in
AMSTERDAM/BEIJING — An arbitration court ruled Tuesday that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and has breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights, infuriating Beijing which dismissed the case as a farce. A defiant China, which boycotted the hearings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, vowed to ignore the ruling and said its armed forces would defend its sovereignty. China claims almost 90 percent of the energy-rich waters through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. The ruling is significant as it is the first time that a legal challenge has been brought in the dispute. It reflects the shifting balance of power in the 1.35 million square mile sea, where China has been expanding its presence by building artificial islands and dispatching patrol boats that keep Filipino fishing vessels away. The court said China had inter-
general will benefit police officers as well as the public. “Technology-wise, it’s been our experience that with our in-car cameras, when we’ve had complaints, the vast majority of complaints were proven to be false or unfounded by the use of cameras and audio that we have,” said Takano. “So by that experience, the body cameras would also now capture other aspects other than vehicle stops, there’s no reason to believe that it would not do that same thing.” Takano explained that implementing rules regarding footage is fiscally responsible too, noting most of the taxpayer costs associated with the use of cameras come from the terabytes of storage necessary to hold footage indefinitely for public access. McCrory said he was committed to both transparency for the public and fairness to the police. “We’re gonna walk that fine line and do the right thing,” said McCrory. The law also authorizes local authorities to establish needle exchange programs in an effort to not only reduce spreading of diseases such as HIV and hepatitis, but also to protect police and first responders who regularly encounter used needles in the course of frisking suspects. “Other states who have operated this program have seen HIV transmission among injection drug users drop 80 percent,” said McCrory of the needle exchange program. “The facts speak for themselves.” Similar programs have also drastically reduced the spread of hepatitis C and needle injuries to police officers. More bills still await McCrory’s signature, including the 2016 appropriations bill and technical fixes to H.B. 2.
rights at Scarborough Shoal and had breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights by exploring for oil and gas near the Reed Bank. None of China’s reefs and holdings in the Spratly Islands entitled it to a 200-mile exclusive economic zone, it added. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said shortly before the ruling was announced that a Chinese civilian aircraft had successfully tested two new airports in the disputed Spratly Islands. China’s Defence Ministry said a new guided missile destroyer was formally commissioned at a naval base on the southern island province of Hainan, which has responsibility for the South China Sea. “China will respond with fury, certainly in terms of rhetoric and possibly through more aggressive actions at sea.” The United States, which China has accused of fueling tensions and militarizing the regions, urged parties to comply with the legally binding ruling and avoid provocations. “The decision today by the Tribunal in the Philippines-China arbitration
DALLAS from page A1 understand each other. ... I understand. I understand how Americans are feeling. But I’m here to say: Dallas, we must reject this despair. We are not as divided as we seem.” Dallas, like Raleigh, has been one of the nation’s examples of effective community policing, making Thursday’s shootings even more alarming. “The risks are a little higher when you have a little more agitation,” Sgt. Gerald Takano, who was at Cafe Carolina & Bakery in Cameron Village Tuesday as part of the Raleigh Police Department’s community outreach program, said. “What’s scary for me is being able to maintain and grow the relationship we have had in the past and keep it going. There’s no resting on that there.” Raleigh had community protests after 24-year-old Akiel Denkins was shot and killed Feb. 29 by a Raleigh police officer following a pursuit and struggle. A state investigation found the officer, D.C. Twiddy, acted in self-defense and did not charge him with a crime. Around Baton Rouge, La., where Alton Sterling, 37, was killed by a police officer on July 5, and Falcon Heights, Minn., where 32-year-old Philander Castile was killed by police during a traffic stop, protesters and police have clashed, leading to hundreds of arrests. “There’s always a better way to do things and we always have to retrain and relearn and constantly update what we can do better and what we must do better,” North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said of the two shootings. Takano, a 25-year veteran of the Raleigh police, said the solid relationship between
is an important contribution to the shared goal of a peaceful resolution to disputes in the South China Sea,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. In a statement shortly before the ruling, China’s Defence Ministry said its armed forces would “firmly safeguard national sovereignty, security and maritime interests and rights, firmly uphold regional peace and stability, and deal with all kinds of threats and challenges” The judges acknowledged China’s refusal to participate, but said they sought to take account of China’s position from its statements and diplomatic correspondence. “Domestically, Beijing has painted itself into a corner and may find itself compelled to act in a potentially reckless fashion, if only to demonstrate to its domestic audience that it is not ... an ‘empty cannon’ in the eyes of its own citizens,” said Andrew Mertha, a China specialist at Cornell University Spreading fast on social media in the Philippines was the use of the term “Chexit” — the public’s desire for Chinese vessels to leave the waters.
the community and police helped stave off some of the conflict seen in other cities. “We’ve had protests in Raleigh, which is fine, but they’re not protesting the Raleigh Police Department,” Takano said. “They’re protesting some of the wrongs they see going on [nationally], which there are some wrongs going on. But it’s that relationship that makes everything there. … We didn’t have the riots, the damages, the assaults, the insults other communities have, and that’s because we have a very high degree of a community relationship that’s positive for the most part.” Takano said the key to having two-way respect between the community and police is about not just having the relationship but actively working to maintain it. “There are areas where there is a strained relationship and there is a lack of understanding, both from a police understanding how the public perceives and how the public perceives the police officer and what they’re doing,” Takano said of places where protests have turned violent. “There is a divide. And that’s the main thing that police communications is: eliminating that divide so there is no uncertainty.” McCrory said that’s what made the attack on police in Dallas that much more difficult. “It’s very tough on a community and especially the fraternity of police officers when you have something like that,” McCrory said. “Especially when police officers are being attacked, targeted, and even while they are protecting those that are protesting the police. That is what is so unique about the law enforcement profession. The officers in Dallas were actually protecting the protesters who were protesting the police. That’s called public service.”