The Las Vegas judge is targeted by the police union for telling the man to stay away from the police

A Las Vegas police union has asked a judge to resign from her position on the bench after making a blunt remark to a black man about his decision to involve law enforcement.

An organization representing the police took offense at the court officer, saying her comments were “derogatory” of the men and women in blue and concluding that those in uniform were implicitly prejudiced against certain people because of their race.

On Wednesday, July 13, the Las Vegas Police Protective Association is calling on Erika Ballou, a district judge, to resign after a video of her remarks she made Monday, July 11, about the complicated (and often hostile) relationship between African Americans and police went viral, the Daily Mail reports.

The LVPPA, which represents Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers, posted the footage to its Facebook page late Wednesday, blasting the judge’s controversial testimony days earlier in the caption.

Ballou, a black woman, told the defendant, who was arrested on charges of assaulting a state official while on probation, that he should have kept his distance from the officer.

“You’re a black man in America, you know you don’t want to be anywhere there are cops,” she said in the video.

“Listen to me, you know you don’t want to be anywhere there are cops. Because I know I don’t, and I’m a middle-aged, middle-class black woman. I don’t want to be around the cops because I don’t know if I’ll make it out alive or not,” Ballou continued.

The remarks were made during a hearing at which the Clark County Attorney’s Office requested that the man’s parole be revoked.

A spokesman for the LVPPA released a statement saying, “On behalf of the men and women of law enforcement, the Las Vegas Police Protective Association takes offense at Judge Erika Ballou’s disparaging remarks about police officers.”

“We are asking Judge Ballou to resign from the bench. We are also asking the Judicial Ethics Commission to sanction them for violating the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct,” the statement continued. “Among other obligations, the Rules require the judiciary to “[A]At all times strive to conduct themselves in a manner that ensures the greatest possible confidence of the public in their independence, impartiality, integrity and competence.’

According to the union, the judge showed her own bias “against prosecution” and therefore “cannot meet the requirements of a lawyer”. In addition, the organization claims when it claimed it was never sure if it would “walk away alive or not” after working with an officer was “both unethical and irresponsible.”

“Police officers and the law-abiding citizens of our community deserve better from the judiciary,” the commentary concluded.

Union President Steve Grammas further commented, saying he had spoken to officers about Ballou’s comments, saying: “They all felt awful that a judge would draw the conclusion that if that judge was hanging around with the police, they might not be dealing with theirs.” would create life.”

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, officers are asking the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline to sanction the judge for violating the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct, which says anyone who believes the officer “should seek at any time.” conduct that ensures the greatest possible public confidence in their independence, impartiality, integrity and competence.”

Paul Deyhle, the NCJD’s executive director, said he could not legally say whether or not a complaint was made against Ballou, adding: “The commission is aware of the news about the judge and any complaints that are made will be considered by the commission. “

This isn’t the first time Ballou has taken a controversial position on the issue of blackness in the courtroom.

In 2016, when she was an assistant public defender, she refused to remove her “Black Lives Matter” button in the courtroom during a trial representing an accused of a white domestic battery at a sentencing hearing.

Despite being questioned by Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon, now Nevada Supreme Court Justice, she stood her ground — but eventually acquiesced after being convinced her pin could potentially disrupt cases because courtrooms ” should be position-neutral”.

She later said wearing the button was in response to the police union’s request for judges not to have “Black Lives Matter propaganda” in courtrooms and that “in a free country I shouldn’t be afraid of the police, but I have”.

Ballou has defended her statements from the bench in remakes shared by circuit court spokeswoman Mary Ann Price, saying: “I support proper prosecution. What the records show is that I communicate with those who come before me in a direct and understandable way.”

The judge is not alone. The NAACP released a statement Tuesday, July 19, in support of Ballou and her right to free speech.

The Las Vegas Chapter of the NAACP said their comments “reflect the grim reality for African Americans” in Clark County and across the country, adding, “Their statements reflect not only their truths, but the truth of the community.” In particular, people of color and African Americans are disproportionately killed by police.”

The NAACP chapter noted a 2016 investigation that found, “Of a total of 8,990,049 arrests in the United States, 2,407,003 of those arrests were for black people.”

The statement also cited a five-year detailed analysis by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department based on their own data.

According to the force’s reports, between 2017 and 2021, more than 31 percent of people shot dead by LVMPD officers were black. A staggering percentage considering that people who identify as Black make up 10 percent of the population in Nevada based on the latest census results.

Nevada state government statistics for 2021 also claim that 52.7 percent of violent crimes are committed by black people.

The civil rights organization also disagreed with the LVPPA’s call for it to be sanctioned, saying, “Your inappropriate invocation of the preamble to the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct in an attempt to distract the public from the truth about the police shootings of people of color in Clark County.” .”

The NAACP statement continued, “It is our position that Judge Ballou imposed the appropriate sentence while advising the defendant that he should have walked away.”

“Nothing in Judge Ballou’s testimony was wrong, and the LVPPA’s position on the issue reflects its defensiveness, based in part on the fact that the truth hurts.”

Other social justice and advocacy organizations such as the Nevada ACLU and the Clark County Black Caucus released other statements supporting the judge.

No word has been released on whether Ballou will be sanctioned by the judiciary.

Ballou reportedly revoked the man’s parole at the hearing.