US Attorney General Jeff Sessions Sounded a Trumpet to Nationwide Sheriffs

  ATLANTA, GA - 02/16/2018 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

Did Attorney General Jeff Sessions closing remark serve a race card or sound off an unintended trumpet for Sheriffs to vet history and bring new realities into existence?

Speaking before the National Sheriff’s Association in Washington DC, AG Sessions unexpected reference (coincidently during black history month) to the term Anglo-American has created a firestorm of controversy:

“The Office of Sheriff is a critical part of the Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement."

Charles Rambo is a retired Lieutenant from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office in Atlanta, Georgia. Certified as a Senior Instructor, though his expertise on the Office of Sheriff he has taught the State Senior Deputy Sheriff Modules and other Sheriff based courses at law enforcement academies. A Black American, he recalls having to address and clarify the critical reference to Anglo-Saxon in course discussions:

“Now thanks to Google, the presence of Anglo-Americans in the Office of Sheriff (as it pertains to the common law) can be verified in higher education curriculum and legal citations. However, from England-colonial America, particular through the southern system of policing in slaveholding states, one can trace the pattern and practices of generational adopted behaviors seen in law enforcement today.”

Through a Socratic style of teaching, Rambo is not a stranger to addressing law enforcement and race relations. Also having served as a National Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, in 2001, he was invited to a symposium on racial profiling at the U.S. Department of Justice. In the closed-door small group session with former US Attorney General Janet Reno and attorneys from the Civil Rights Division, he emphasized outside the focus of collecting statistics, a more holistic approach with accountability based training in race relations and law enforcement as a solution. Following the meeting, Rambo developed a thought-provoking training course on racial profiling prevention taught to hundreds of peace officers in the state of Georgia. 

While AG Sessions comments may have created a firestorm of controversy, Rambo views it as a clarion call for Sheriffs to use their office to engage constituents:

“Now, forward thinking Sheriffs can openly discuss the positive and negative realities of the Anglo-American heritage in law enforcement focusing on the era of the peculiar institution of slavery-civil rights which are still open wounds to black Americans.”

Not without a solution, AG Sessions timely commentary came after Rambo, last year, created an accredited training webinar and manual consistent with mandatory state requirements for annual peace officer re-certification on Police Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, and Community Relations. By no coincidence, Rambo saw an additional need to create a similar webinar focused on the Sheriff’s Office. Each lesson discusses how to renew community trust in the Sheriff’s constitutionally mandated duties and authority. Also incorporated into the training is a thought-provoking practical exercise on resolving community issues and end of course test.

Similar to his own public policy stances, Rambo also found AG Sessions, as the chief lawyer of the United States, making an unusual underscore about the importance of the Sheriff in the twenty-first century:

“We must never erode this historic office.”

In 2007, Rambo presented compelling testimony at the Georgia State Capitol against a blind-side attempt by state legislators and county officials, in a jurisdiction composed primarily of black constituents, to abolish or appoint the Fulton County Sheriff. AG Sessions next citation can also serve as a wake-up call for citizens to become more educated about the unique authority of their Sheriff beyond intentional political misconceptions:

“Since our founding, the independently elected Sheriff has been seen as the people’s protector, who keeps law enforcement close to and amenable to the people.”

Rambo concludes on hope for a new generation of law enforcement professionals, of all ethnicities, to examine the positive and negative impact of the Anglo-American heritage in the Sheriff’s Office, and bring new realities into existence:

"Whether the Sheriffs attending the conference were Anglo Saxon, Black or Hispanic, they have an inherent right and duty to go back to their jurisdictions using the bully pulpit power of their office to inspire communities to authentic criminal justice reform.”

Special Note: A complimentary link is provided for the press to view the webinar: Sheriff Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, and Community Relations