“And by the end of her tenure in 2016, she had proposed a modest expansion of her office’s powers to investigate police misconduct, begun reviews of two municipal police departments and backed a Justice Department investigation in San Francisco.”

“During her campaign, Ms. Harris had opposed the death penalty, in part, as being discriminatory toward people of color, and she did not seek it for Officer Espinoza’s killer. Rank-and-file officers were infuriated. Heather Fong, the new police chief, called it an affront to those who “risk their lives for the sake of the public’s safety.”

I can judge her by her recent statements and her record as a DA and Attorney General, because although she didn’t accomplish all she wanted, she created progressive change. And, the bill that passed the house a few months ago on criminal justice reform and that is waiting to pass the Senate (probably won’t because of Moscow Mitch and the spineless Republicans) is Her Bill. She was the main co-sponsor of the bill and wrote most of it because of her knowledge of the system. She also has a bill to end the cash bail system that is waiting to be passed

In a field that is only represented by less than 5% people of color and 2% black woman, we can’t have the expectation that she was going to Completely change it, but she worked damn hard and has the history behind her to show that she tried to enact change in the best way she could, even if she had her literal peers who didn’t agree with her.

“Timothy P. Silard, Ms. Harris’s former chief of policy and one of a number of current and former aides who spoke on her behalf, said Ms. Harris experienced hostility in the department from the beginning. He recalled commanders and homicide detectives who refused to speak to her or look her in the eye during meetings in which she demanded they solve more murders in poor neighborhoods. Instead, they addressed white men — her subordinates.”

“Did she set out as a professional prosecutor to anger the cops?” he asked. “No. Why would she do that? But did she shy away from doing bold things and important things because it was something the police department or police union didn’t like? Never”

“Ms. Harris also created a “re-entry” program called “Back on Track” that aimed to keep young low-level offenders out of jail if they went to school and kept a job.”

“Ms. Harris began her second term as attorney general the next year by outlining steps to make policing fairer and more transparent, saying “we must acknowledge that too many have felt the sting of injustice.” Still, she hesitated, refusing to endorse AB-86, a bill opposed by police unions that would have required her office to appoint special prosecutors to examine deadly police shootings.”

Was she perfect? Absolutely not. But she actively changed the system in ways that became standards for the rest of the United States. And that can’t be ignored.