In March, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop blocking immigrant minors in government custody from obtaining abortions, and, subsequently, to post a notice in all government-funded shelters housing them to inform them that they have the right to decide whether to have an abortion. But since then, the government has sought to undermine the court’s ruling in its relentless drive to control the reproductive choices of young immigrant women.   

The Trump administration has appealed the order, arguing that it has the right to hold young women hostage to prevent them from accessing abortion. And in tandem with the appeal, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency responsible for unaccompanied minors, directed all government-funded shelters and legal services providers to make available what is effectively a counter-notice, instructing pregnant minors to seek counseling from one of three crisis pregnancy centers. CPCs are anti-abortion organizations, often disguised as medical centers, aimed at discouraging women from having abortions. Among the three CPCs listed on the notice is “Sisters of Life,” an explicitly religious organization that has vowed to “protect and enhance the sacredness of human life” and has characterized abortion as a “tragedy” and an “unforgivable sin.”

ORR is also requiring shelters to make sure that all minors have access to a misleading brochure created by state officials in Texas, entitled “A Woman’s Right to Know.” This brochure contains misinformation designed to pressure a woman to carry her pregnancy to term. One of the claims in the brochure is that women who obtain abortions face increased risk of breast cancer, something that has been thoroughly debunked by the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, and others. And because ORR is requiring shelters to provide the brochure nationwide, it is misleading all minors in its custody to believe that they are subject to the extremely restrictive abortion laws in Texas, including a 24-hour waiting period and sonogram requirements.

These notice and brochure provision requirements are blatant attempts to undermine the court’s order to stop interfering with immigrant minors’ reproductive rights. They make clear that the government is not backing down — it is doubling down. In other words, the Trump administration’s rendition of "The Handmaid’s Tale" has now begun its second season. Stay tuned. 

The Trump administration recently released a congressionally mandated report on the NSA’s surveillance activities in 2017. Quite a few of the numbers raise questions about Americans’ privacy — some because the numbers are so big, and others because they may indicate troubling intelligence practices.

The report is required by the 2015 surveillance reform law passed in response to unlawful spying under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. The goal of Congress’ reporting requirement was to provide a snapshot of how the government is using certain surveillance authorities and, in some cases, to measure if the reforms passed in response to past illegal spying are having the desired effects.

Here are four of the most concerning pieces of the report:

The NSA is collecting more than three times the number of call records it did last year — totaling over 530 million — and has not explained the increase. 

Under the Patriot Act, the government can ask phone companies to hand over call records associated with particular individuals, accounts, or devices on an ongoing basis — including the records two “hops” removed from the original target. Despite the fact that the number of targets has remained the same, the number of call records collected by the government has surged to over 530 million — more than three times what was reported last year.

The NSA has provided no clear explanation for this increase, telling the press that they “expect this number to fluctuate from year to year.” This canned response is woefully inadequate, and Congress should press for more answers.

The NSA continues to fail to report certain information about its activities as required by law.

The 2015 surveillance reform law, which the NSA endorsed, required the agency to report the number of “unique identifiers” — such as unique phone numbers and other account identifiers — that are collected by the government. The goal was to provide a sense of how many individual accounts were being swept up in the government’s surveillance.

The NSA has failed to report the number of unique identifiers associated with call detail record collection despite its obligation to do so under the law. As a result, we are left with no way to ascertain what has caused the surge in the number of phone records the government obtained. It could be due to duplication (like when one phone call creates records at multiple phone companies), multiple calls to the same number, or the types of unlawful surveillance that we have seen in the past.

The number of foreign targets for certain types of warrantless surveillance has increased by the largest percentage ever reported — and the government is increasingly using this data to spy on the content of Americans’ communications.

The report reveals that the number of targets subject to warrantless surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has increased by over 20 percent, the largest rise since the government started publicly reporting this number. This spike likely means that there is a corresponding increase in the number of Americans and foreigners who are swept up in the government’s surveillance.

Indeed, the report also reveals that this data is being mined more often to look for the content of Americans’ communications — despite the fact that the law prohibits the government from using Section 702 to target Americans. The NSA, CIA, and National Counterterrorism Center conducted over 7,500 of these backdoor searches, and the FBI does not report the number of searches it conducts at all.

The use of surveillance authorities requiring a court order has dropped — but that might not be a good thing.

The NSA reports less reliance on certain surveillance laws, including those that require the government to get a court order to obtain electronic metadata, including information about who is on the sending and receiving end of a communication as well as when it happened.  (This is often referred to as “pen register and trap and trace” or “PR/TT.”) According to the report, the government has obtained roughly only a quarter of the PR/TT orders that it obtained in 2013 — and that’s with over 90 percent fewer targets.

But we should not assume that this decrease translates into less spying. Given the increase in the use of other warrantless surveillance authorities, it is also possible that the government is obtaining this same information through means that do not require a court order.

For example, the government could be obtaining this information by mining data collected under Section 702 without a warrant, looking for the information of individuals who are not even targets of such surveillance. This would call into question whether existing restrictions are serving their purpose — or simply being easily skirted by the government’s increased abuse of warrantless surveillance authorities.  

Congress should probe into the factors driving the various numbers in this report to determine whether the government is following the rules created to safeguard privacy and prevent overreach by the NSA.

During the third week of May, tens of thousands of cops from across the nation will gather in Washington, D.C., for “Police Week” and its national memorial services, a solemn tradition that dates back to the Kennedy administration. As a former law enforcement officer, I know the importance of this week.

I also know that this is an ideal time to commit to improving the institution from within as well as from without. There is no better time to recognize and appreciate our courageous officers — and make their work safer, more satisfying, and, ultimately, more legitimate in the eyes of the people.

Twenty-three years ago, as Seattle’s police chief, I traveled to our nation’s capital to join the family of a gifted, compassionate police officer, Antonio Terry. On June 4, 1994, Detective Terry was shot dead by a motorist he had stopped to assist. Police Week is meant to honor the men and women, like Terry, who are gutsy enough to do this critical, often dangerous work.

But a proper tribute starts by accepting what is for some a painful truth: Much of the criticism of American policing — rudeness, bigotry, and discrimination; unlawful stop and frisk; false arrests; sexual predation; corruption; excessive force — is valid. And another truth: Airing these criticisms is but a first step. Communities must have a meaningful role in improving the system — which includes reform-minded people joining the ranks.

Many officers accused of unlawful acts, including the use of excessive and deadly force, are playing out what the system of policing has taught them. Whether that learning takes place in the academy or in the locker room or the front seat of a squad car, it must be addressed, checked, and countered by proper training and a supportive culture that will more effectively protect everyone.

While there are numerous examples of effective, often heroic police work, deeply-rooted patterns of dysfunctional policing stretch back generations and are less talked about, certainly within the ranks. It’s time for police to discuss them openly and honestly with our communities. Such frank conversations would create an environment in which those who believe in the best values of policing would be more likely to enter the profession or to work with departments to bring about needed change.

For too long, our police have been taught never to back down and always to maintain the upper hand, regardless of the circumstances or whether the methods and tactics employed are likely to backfire. Senior officers have taught junior officers to convey an attitude of We’re in charge here. Or, put differently, We’re the cops, and you’re not. This equation leaves little room for the rights and humanity of regular people. And, this mentality, reinforced throughout an officer’s career, is pretty much guaranteed to escalate tensions, strain community-police relations, and cause citizens to view their officers as arrogant, unapproachable, and unfeeling.

Furthermore, the increased militarization of law enforcement, fueled by an immoral, wrong-headed, unwinnable drug war, has only added to these problems. For the past half century, local cops have served as foot soldiers in an armed conflict against their neighbors, especially low-income people and communities of color.

Actual reform of the institution demands a willingness of all stakeholders — crime victims, grassroots community activists, civil libertarians, civic leaders, police officials, and rank-and-file officers — to come together to build a robust new system. Some critics go so far as to argue that police departments should be abolished entirely. I disagree. But for those of us who believe police are necessary, we must be prepared to enact fundamental reforms that fulfill the promise of joint community-police protection and service.

Such a police department will have clear and nameable priorities: the protection and preservation of human life as the agency’s highest calling; crime-fighting that concentrates on domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and other predatory offenses; an iron-clad agreement to play by the rules, vigilantly honoring human rights and civil liberties; a commitment to treat one another and all community members with the utmost dignity and respect; and dedication to authentic community policing.

True community policing, at its core, includes full citizen participation in all aspects of police operations. That includes policymaking, program development, officer selection and training, crisis management, performance appraisal, department discipline, and citizen oversight of investigations into alleged police misconduct.

Resolving to practice these principles and priorities will yield better cops and better and safer policing.

When I picture good cops, I see maturity, calmness, and friendliness. They are individuals who embrace a “nobody dies on my watch” ethic and who respond properly, lawfully, and humanely to all situations, including those where the officer is fearful. Good cops understand that uncontained fear leads to distorted perceptions and poor judgment. Through training, experience, and mindfulness, good cops learn to manage their fear. They become the kind of officers that everyone — including young people, poor people, people of color — would want to show up on their doorstep in a time of need.

Building a system that produces such cops cannot be left to chance.

Community and police, working together as bona fide partners, can and must create a new type of police organization, one that, in policy and practice, rejects racism, counteracts implicit bias, ends excessive force, consistently uses de-escalation to prevent and stop violence, and is transparent with and accountable to the people it serves,

To honor our police officers — and to help both them and the people they serve make it home to their loved ones, day after day, night after night— we must begin the hard work of establishing a revolutionary new police department. Our departments must become a “people’s police,” in which officers and citizens work in tandem and in harmony.

Norm Stamper was a cop for 34 years, the first 28 in San Diego, the last six (1994-2000) as Seattle’s Chief of Police. He is an advisory board member of Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a nonprofit of police, prosecutors, judges and others who want to reform the criminal justice system, and the author of two books on police reform, “Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing” and his latest, “To Protect and Serve: How To Fix America’s Police,” which provides a blueprint for carrying out the changes advocated in this essay.