DOJ Investigating An 'American Problem' In New York, Ferguson And Cleveland

Attorney General Eric Holder has released a report saying that police officers in Cleveland, Ohio, are poorly trained in tactics and firearms, and they endanger the public and fellow officers with their recklessness.

This comes after the grand jury in Staten Island, New York, declined to indict Daniel Pantaleo, the police officer who used a chokehold against a man who was allegedly selling loose cigarettes.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced it would launch a federal civil rights investigation into the death of the man, Eric Garner.

Meanwhile, separate investigations are underway in Ferguson, Missouri, where 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer, and Cleveland, Ohio, where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was killed by an officer while carrying a BB gun.

NPR’s Ron Elving talks to Here & Now's Peter O’Dowd about where those investigations stand and what kind of political reaction each case is getting.