Force. Another night of protests in new york and other cities one day after a grand jury decided not to charge a white Police Officer in the choke hold death of an unarmed man in july. Have a look at this live picture now in lowerman hatton. Matthew breen joins us where the protests are underway. Patricia what is happening where you are now . [ inaudible ] perhaps 5 to 800 people and steadily growing. If you look behind me, what you see helped inside is the police barricade. The crowd is very, very densely packed. Were seeing people outside here on the sidewalk adjacent to it, and gathering. Right now the protest is rather peaceful. I have seen people bringing children inside the police barricades, a woman even with an infant inside the barricades. This is also a very multiracial crowd here as well. So this protests comes hours after the city announced that thousands of Police Officers will be retrained. What more can you tell us about that . Reporter well, that retraining, tony was announced today both by the mayor and the police commissioner. We dont have a lot of details, but we have more brood brush strokes and really its aimed at resetting relations between the police and the community. About 22,000 nypd will undergo three days of retraining. Some of that will involve deescalation and how to useless force. The relationship between police and community has to change. The way we go about policing has to change, has to change in this city and this country. I am fundamentally convinced it will change. Reporter and tony as i said right now the crowd is gathering pace. Were seeing a lot of people out here, but it is very, very peaceful. Of course ahead of this protest and may mayors announcement, t praised the grand jurys decision, and they lash out at the mayor for not being supportive of the nypd in the media wake of the grand jury decision. All right. Patricia sabga for us. There has been a strong reaction where eric died. John henry spent the day talking to people who knew him. Reporter she says eric garner is missed. He was very nice. He was a very gentle guy. Reporter William Galway says his friend was a gentle giebt. He was big, but he wasnt a bully or anything like that. They saw him making his little bit of dollars, and he basically, you know, ran things. He made sure that people didnt fight. Reporter safe to say there was a lot of love for eric garner here where he ultimately lost his life. The family is now filing a civil suit against the city of new york and the new York City Police department. But that cant heal their wounds. Who give a bamming about money. Reporter erics stepdad says he hopes the federal civil rights inquiry will give him the justice he. Wants, the justice he says the family didnt get from the grand jury. Its prejudice. Thats what it is. Its a bunch of damn klans men. Reporter others share the family anger and confusion. We are in a nation that convicted michael vick for killing dogs, and im an animal righ rights believer. And we cant get a conviction for a black man being killed. It appeared Excessive Force was used. Reporter erics memorial sits as a bittersweet reminder to those he left behind. I feel happy when i see my maams face up here. I feel happy but sad at the same time. Statton island a home to large number of Police Officers, and it is the most propolice area in new york city. Roxana saberi joins us from statton island. Among the people who you have been able to have a conversation with, what have they been saying to you . Tony let me give you an idea first of this community before i tell you what they said. Were about two miles southwest of where eric garner died and there are a lot of white and working class folks in this area. We spent the day talking to a number of them in the restaurants and bars behind me. Its a place where a lot of Police Officers and firefighters come. And friends of Police Officers and firefighters. None of them really wanted to talk to us on camera. They were very hesitant. Some told us off camera that they could see both sides of the story. While others said they knew the officer, one was his neighbor, and she was glad he wasnt indicted. Explain how statton island really is different from the rest of new york city. Reporter about 80 of the population here on statton island is white. Thats a lot higher than the percentage of white people in new york city across the five boroughs, which is about half of that, about 44 . The population of black and immigrant communities has been growing. This is also known to be the most politically conservative borough, and its also home to mr. Police officers. There are many people here who are sympathetic to daniel the officer. Yes. And that is the community from which the grand jury is drawn. All right. Roxana. Roxana saberi for us in statton island. Thank you. And since the news broke last night, people have been sharing their stories of Police Encounters on social media. Yeah, tony two hashtags illustrate the contrast in the stories. Lets start with the most recent one called alive while black. Africanamericans describing their encounters with Law Enforcement. Like this one and also, christina writing now a live well black started in response to a hashtag called criming while white. Thats white americans sharing their stories with Law Enforcement ill share more of these hashtags later on in the show. Thank you. Joining me now is mary francis berry, a professor of history, and former chair woman of the u. S. Commission on civil rights. I need to have a conversation with you, and as we have this conversation, i want to roll in the picturesover the demonstrations going on in new york. It is on the move. I want to tell you one thing first, tony. Yes, please. When i was chair of the commission, we did several hearings and studies about the new york police department. A big one after [ inaudible ] was shot and killed in new york. And this very thorough study, which got wide publicity, its still on you can get it on the internet, Police Practices and civil rights, show that statton island is the place where the largest number of stop and frisk stops without a charge were made and they were mostly of black people, and that that was the place where most of this happened. Also we made a lot of recommendations for what the police should do, and we were told that the police would make all of these changes. There have been studies even since then, and everyone finds the same thing, and that is the training that is promised doesnt happen. Im hoping the new mayor is able to make it happen this time. And one other crucial thing as Police Officers told us under oath in these hearings that they were always afraid, and when they saw black suspects or any suspect, they had a tendency to be trigger happy if they werent careful. They admitted to that . Yeah, it was under subpoena. It was under oath. And that a lot of it had to do with training. They kept saying that they hadnt been adequately trained. So its very sad what happened. The other thing is that we recommended citizen review boards for police. For a long time in this country, there was a move to have these boards, and some of them happened in new york and other places, but then the police were opposed to them, said well, it undermines confidence in the police, and we can investigate ousts. I think the protesters should keep protesting until somebody does something to about citizen review of police, somebody does something about the prosecutors, and then finally, tony i know im saying a lot no, go go go. That the cameras the cameras, the whole idea of cameras that will solve this problem, may be something that will give the Camera Companies a lot of money for selling cameras. Because here we have a video in this case, and it doesnt seem to make any difference. I think at the margins its nice to have things. I also dont like the idea of a task force, because there have been so many studies of police, with so many reports and recommendations which are all the same about what they should do, and having another task force is like kicking the can down the road. So you disagree with the president. Yeah, i know why hes doing it because task forces are things you do as a safety valve to try to buy time and show you are doing things. Thats why president s do it. Thats really honest, thing you. But we have already looked at the police a lot, and we need to act on these things. I may have the year wrong here, but wasnt there a report on a lot of the recommendations you are talking about now in like 2009 . Right. We made 2009 Police Practices and civil rights after a whole week of hearings in new york with subpoenas from everybody from the mayor on down to cops on the street. In cases of policeinvolved shootings, you need a special prosecutor. You needed a special prosecutor in this case. And in ferguson. Where do you come down on that . Well, you definitely need to have more transparency, and the public needs to understand without controversy, that prosecutors can in fact get a ham sandwich indicted if they want to. If a prosecutor cant get an indictment in a case like this particular one in new york, or even the one in ferguson, its politics. Its prosecutors are comfortable with the people that they represent, who are the people in the area where they are. Its all a very political process in a case like this. So some kind of special prosecutor or Citizen Input or something needs to happen so justice can be done. And the main thing is i think the protesters ought to peep protesting. Let me ask you Something Else here that maybe gets at the root of this. Something im hearing from folks is that the current criminal Justice System as it stands now, as it has stood for years and years and years is rooted in an a legacy of inequality in this country, rooted in a slavery legacy, a constitutional legacy that once saw slaves as, what, threefifths of a person, and a legacy of jim crow laws in this country. Will you speak to that . Im also a historian as well as a lawyer, and i tell you that it is clear that slavery there was a system of social control of blacks used by anybody could anybody white could control black people, and since slavery they started putting in different kinds of laws, making stealing a watermelon a felony, for example, or laws in order to control blacks. Walking away from work was a crime. Yeah. If someone said you are supposed to work for them. Or not paying a debt after they had entrapped you in debt was a crime, which meant you could be virtually sold to somebody to work for them. All of these were measures of social control, which have been well documented for years by historians, and the disparities that we see in the way criminal justice is enforced in this country, that is what do we penalize, how do we penalize it, how do police react to people is based on that legacy. Somebody said black people think everything is about race. No, we dont. But some things are about race, and in fact, the legacy and the social control, and the disparities, and the presumptions of looking at someone and being scared, whether its a 12yearold boy, or whether its a guy i remember when i was chancellor of the university of colorado, one of my chancellors used to say when a black man came to visit me, oh, he was a really big guy. And i would look at the guy, and he would be like 58 or something, and 160 pounds soaking wet. So there are all of these presumptions and attitudes. I need to get you back here when i have a little more time. I want to talk about what conversation you want to have and who is going to have it. Always a pleasure to talk to you. Thanks for your time. Okay. Tony. Attorney general eric holder today announced results of a federal investigation into clevelands police department. They said the officers are poorly trained and too quick to use force. Mike viqueira is live at the white house for us. And why was the Justice Department investigating the Cleveland Police department in the first place . There were a series of use of force incidents that were alleged Police Brutality and excessive use of force where citizens were killed by a barrage of bullets by police. After an extending car chase two africanamericans were cornered by police, 137 bullets were fired at their vehicle. Thats when after a series of events like that one, the department of justice decided to step in. This is not necessarily an unusual step for the department of justice. They have done this over the course of the last 25 years with other major cities. Matter of fact cleveland had the Justice Department investigate them in 2004. So the upshot is what is called a consent degree. The Cleveland Police department has agreed to allow the department of justice to come in, and revamp, reorder, and retrain the police department, which has been found lacking, not only in the incident i described, some 600 incidents were investigated over the course of the last four years, including the shooting of a 12yearold. Attorney general eric holder took the step of going to cleveland and announcing this consent degree with law enforce authorities there. Here is what he had to say. The tragic losses of these and far too many other americans, including just last month the shooting death of the 12yearold here in cleveland have raised Urgent National questions and sparked an important conversation about the sense of trust that must exist between Law Enforcement and the communities they serve and protect. Reporter now, tony, another investigation of this sort has begun by the department of justice in ferguson. Remember there are two parallel investigations there. One a civil rights investigation into former officer Darren Wilson in the killing of michael brown, but like cleveland, ferguson is now under the microscope to see if there is a pattern and practice of police misuse, police use of executive force. All right. Mike. Thank you. In the wake of the eric garner case the department of justice has announced it will start a separate investigation into the officer. David shuster joining us now. How difficult of case is this going to make here . It could be difficult, because the focus is instead of being on the criminality or brutality of the choke hold, which is what the grand jury looked at, in a civil rights case investigators will have to find evidence that the choke hold was motivated by a racial component in other words the investigators would have to determine that the officer put him in a choke hold primarily because garner was African American. Or that race was a factor of the police trying to arrest him in the first place for selling loose cigarettes. If the officers testified to the grand jury and said they were motivated by say, garners size or demeanor and not race, that would be enough. What about if there is a pattern here of arrest in this area . Could that be a factor . Yeah, thats the other avenue they could pursue. If you can show that garner was emblem attic, that police overarrested African American in the community compared to whites, you are start to show that there is a disproportionate target of African Americans. There is a good case about 20 years ago where in the bronx an offduty officer got in a scuffle with a African American at a football game. The federal civil rights investigators looked at this, and found he was motivated by, to a certain degree, the victims race and they were able to bring a civil rights charge and make it stick. All right. David shuster for us. David appreciate it, thank you. A second night of protests Getting Started in new york city. I think these may be the live pictures, and well get some of the political reaction coming up. Office chuck hagel reveals a new report of Sexual Assault in the military, the numbers, and what he says needs to change. Significantly more u. S. Troops have been speaking up about Sexual Assault in the military, according to a report released by secretary of state make that secretary of defense, chuck hagel. The pentagon announces new ways to deal with the problem. Reporter depending on who you listen to, the pentagon report either shows substantial progress has been made, or it shows not enough as changed in the past year. Outgoing defense secretary chuck hagel hailed the report he sent to the president as showing improvement in the way the military handles Sexual Assaults in the ranks, but not enough. It threatens the lives of men and women who serve our military. Reporter it was a survey of 145,000 service members. The numbers suggest a decrease in the number of service men and women who say they have been assaulted during the last two years. The report also says among those who say they were assaulted, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of victims actually willing to come forward, up from 10 to 25 . Hagels directive orders a multiyear study of risk factors. New training for Junior Officers and bosses, and strict rules to detect and prevent retaliation. But the senator from new york says that does nothing to stop authorities from overturning the ruling. Victims still dont feel justice is possible. The bias within the chain of command is still prevalent. A retired prosecutor saw a rapist he convicted reinstated by his superior officer. The rapists boss should not be the one to determine the fate of the case. Reporter jill brand is hoping the information will help her colleagues vote for the legislation this time around. And coming up, the people tasked with whether to indict. A live report of the protests in new york, you are looking at live pictures on the left. Were back in a moment. And returning to our top story, protesters have gathered in new york and other cities to call for justice or eric garner one day after the grand jury decided not to charge the Police Officer who put him in a choke hold. Patricia wel