Holder to visit Phila. to talk about policing

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be in Philadelphia on Thursday to host a roundtable on building trust between the police and the people they serve.

Holder's visit, similar to meetings he held recently in Atlanta, Memphis, Cleveland, and Chicago, is meant to underscore the Obama administration's aim of "increasing the integrity within our justice system," according to a Department of Justice spokesman.

Since the killing of unarmed African American men by white police officers in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City - and the social unrest that followed - the administration has been keen on helping local communities and their police departments work better together, the spokesman said.

Holder will meet with Mayor Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, as well as community leaders and students, at the office of U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger in Center City.

In a statement last month, Holder summed up the administration's view of events, suggesting the impetus for his visit here:

"Millions of people throughout the nation have come together - bound by grief and anguish - in response to the tragic deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson [in August] and Eric Garner [in July] in New York City.

"The tragic losses of these and far too many other Americans . . . have raised urgent, national questions. And they have sparked an important conversation about the sense of trust that must exist between law enforcement and the communities they serve and protect."

Many Americans were angered that no criminal charges were filed against the New York City police officer captured on cellphone video holding Garner, who had attracted the attention of police by selling unregulated cigarettes outside a bodega in Staten Island, in what appeared to be a choke hold. The video shows Garner complaining, "I can't breathe," while the choke hold was applied. Garner died at the scene.

Similarly, people were upset that a grand jury declined to charge a white police officer in Brown's death. Throughout America, people held demonstrations to express their displeasure with the findings.

Then, in Cleveland in November, police killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was holding a toy gun.

And in New York last month, a gunman said to be avenging Garner and Brown shot and killed police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, who were sitting in their patrol car.

Highlighting the need for the nation to heal, Holder said last month that he would "continue . . . conversations as we seek to restore trust, [and] to rebuild understanding."

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