Tag: Consent Decree

Torrance Police Department agrees to reforms with the California Department of Justice | LAist

This is a perfect example that police oversight and accountability still exist. The federal DOJ should not be the leader in police oversight and accountability. The police department itself should be first followed by any other entities such as county state. This here is an example of California’s state level DOJ conducting an investigation on a local police department. The department agreed to the reforms following a racist texting scandal in 2021.
— Read on laist.com/news/criminal-justice/torrance-police-department-reforms-california-department-of-justice

Looking at “Ferguson” by Washington University Journal of Law and Policy

Below are links to 2 issues from the Washington University Journal of Law and Policy.
Both issues focus on the Michael Brown death involving P/O Darren Wilson in Ferguson Missouri. Volume 49, Issue 1, 2015 are articles immediately after the Brown/Wilson event. Volume 78, Issue 1, 2025 is a 10 year follow-up to the Ferguson incident.

Volume 49 • Issue 1 • 2015

Notable Articles:

Volume 78 • Issue 1 • 2025 • Ten Years and Ten Miles: Reflecting on “Ferguson”

Notable Articles:

Minneapolis mayor issues executive order implementing police department’s consent decree after DOJ’s dismissal – CBS Minnesota

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey issued an executive order on Tuesday instructing the city to fully implement all reforms outlined in a federal consent decree weeks after its dismissal.
— Read on www.cbsnews.com/amp/minnesota/news/minneapolis-consent-decree-executive-order/

ACLU and Community Groups Launch Campaign to Demand Justice and Transparency as Trump DOJ Abandons Federal Police Oversight | American Civil Liberties Union

Commentary:  2 key concepts about policing that are important to understand.

The first is policing is local.  Police in California and New York are similar but they are also different.  If a police department in California does something improper that is not an indication that the police in New York are doing the same improper act.   This leads to the second point, Governmental Home Rule.  This means that each municipality is it’s own government.  This allows the local city, town, or village (c-t-v) to have dominion over it’s municipal agencies.  This allows each local government to control it’s police department.  Therefor each municipal government, if it chooses, can MANDATE police reform of it’s local police department.

The bottom line is that the DOJ is not needed to initiate police reform.  The Governments in Memphis, TN, Louisville, KY, Lexington, MS, Phoenix, AZ, Minneapolis, MN, Mount Vernon, NY, and Worcester, MA, can force their local police department to initiate or continue reforms suggested from the DOJ investigations.

When police department reform is initiated at the local level it works better.  The Mayor or Supervisor of a C-T-V calls for police reform, the Council or Trustees support it (at least through a budget line), the Chief or Commissioner of the police department makes the change.  If the Chief/Commissioner doesn’t follow through with the reform that can be fired.  If the Council or Trustees don’t support the reform efforts they can be voted out of office.  The same with the Mayor or Supervisor if they don’t mandate police reform they can be voted out of office.  Now the citizens have a voice, if they think reform is not needed they can use their voices and votes to make changes.  The same if a large enough group is calling for reform they can pressure their local government to make changes.

This is much better that having the secret DOJ control local police reform.  The C-T-V elected officials have no voice, only to agree with the DOJ’s findings.  The community can’t pressure anyone because the DOJ is not elected by the community.

The ACLU Press Release

The Seven States Safety Campaign targets police departments where the Biden DOJ found rampant police brutality and racial targeting
— Read on www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-and-community-groups-demand-justice-and-transparency-as-trump-doj-abandons-federal-police-oversight

Department of Justice moves to end 10-year federal reform effort with Albuquerque police | News | abqjournal.com

A decade after the U.S. Department of Justice found Albuquerque police engaged in a “pattern or practice” of using excessive force — as high-profile police shootings mounted — the government
— Read on www.abqjournal.com/news/article_a70f7874-02e7-40bd-9e13-2eebaf2a0c24.html

Despite Trump’s order, Chicago consent decree mandating police reform ‘will remain in effect’ | Nation/World | gazettextra.com

This is a unique position. Reform CPD even when the reform agreement has ended. Policing is local so CPD can continue to work on the suggested DOJ reforms. CPD is free to work on any type of reform it wants to. But why? Chicago didn’t suggest CPD reform until after the DOJ investigation called for reform.

CHICAGO — One of the executive orders signed by President Donald Trump this week seeks to end all federal consent decrees governing reform efforts by police departments across the country.
— Read on www.gazettextra.com/news/nation_world/despite-trump-s-order-chicago-consent-decree-mandating-police-reform-will-remain-in-effect/article_8ba2e73b-6f21-5172-ac69-c42b12cc83c7.html