In Boston, Rachael Rollins also made history in November’s election, becoming the first black woman to be district attorney in that city’s history. And she, too, is now meeting with some resistance. A group called the National Police Association (NPA) has filed an ethics complaint against Rollins — before she has even taken office. As Carissa Byrne Hessick, director of the Prosecutors and Politics Project at the University of North Carolina School of Law explained on Twitter, the complaint is utter nonsense. It’s based not on any actual ethical violations, but on Rollins' campaign promise to not prosecute 15 low-level nonviolent offenses, ranging from public trespassing to drug possession.?

As Hessick points out, the complaint seems to be a PR move for the NPA. Judging by its website, the NPA appears to be just a few months old and has, thus far, has also called for investigations of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel (for consulting with the ACLU); called for another investigation of the auditor of the San Jose police department (for, among other things, listening to protesters at an anti-police rally); and called for a boycott of Nike for signing former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick as an endorser.