In announcing a settlement with Minneapolis for police reform, U.S. Department of Justice officials cited five other cities that have seen success under similar court-ordered action: Seattle, Portland, Newark, Albuquerque and New Orleans.
“Cities that have worked collaboratively with the Justice Department have made important, tangible progress toward better, safer and lawful policing,” said U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, reports the MinnPost.
It’s common to take years for federal court agreements like the one in Minneapolis to take effect. The federal consent decree process was first introduced in 1994.
Here is a brief look at the cities DOJ cited:
--Seattle was placed under federal consent decree in 2012 after community members and organizers rallied for federal police oversight after the police murder of deaf Indigenous woodcarver John T. Williams in 2010. A federal judge terminated most provisions of the decree in 2023 after determining the department had completed “significant policing reform.”
DOJ said the police department reduced its use of serious force by 60 percent, with force used in only one-quarter of one percent of all events to which officers respond. The department developed an advanced crisis intervention program in which civilian mental health professionals and non-police mobile crisis teams respond to behavioral health crisis incidents. Department officers are now also trained on how to “secure people’s rights” during police investigation stops.
--Portland, Ore., was placed under a federal consent decree after the city entered a settlement in a 2012 federal lawsuit that accused the police of using excessive force against people with mental illness.
The court terminated portions of the consent decree in 2023, concluding that the police bureau “sustained substantial compliance” for three years. This compliance included implemented provisions around “electronic control weapons” (such as use of Tasers) and the creation of multiple additional oversight committees for behavioral health response, police training, communication, coordination and citizen review of the department.
Before the partial termination, DOJ reported in 2022 that the city was out of compliance with several parts of the agreement, including police response to the racial justice protests of 2020.
--Newark entered a consent decree in 2016 after DOJ found “a pattern and practice of unconstitutional policing.” The report found Newark’s police officers had no legal basis for 75 percent of their pedestrian stops from 2009 to 2012, which were conducted disproportionally against Black people. It was also found that the Newark police were detaining people for “milling,” “loitering” or “wandering.”
Under the settlement, a federal court approved an independent police monitoring team led by former New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey.
Newark officers now conduct stops in compliance with constitutional standards, Clarke said. The city also developed community-member-run safety systems like a community street team of non-police responders.
“These efforts have been successful at reducing the burden on law enforcement and reduced crime, which is down 40 percent since we entered the decree,” Clarke said.
--The Albuquerque Police Department is an example of a department now considered to be nearly in full compliance after nine years of court oversight, clocking in at 99 percent compliance, DOJ says. The department was placed under a consent decree in 2015 after the department faced deep scrutiny over its use of force and the number of cases where police officers shot civilians.
The decree was lifted last year after officers were equipped with body cameras, increased crisis intervention training was implemented and a new policing reform office was formed in the city. The city remains in a two-year oversight period during which it must demonstrate its ability to sustain the court-mandated reforms outlined in the decree.
--DOJ entered a consent degree agreement with the New Orleans Police Department in 2013, two years after a federal investigation found evidence of racial bias and police misconduct.
DOJ found New Orleans police used deadly force without justification, repeatedly made unconstitutional arrests and engaged in racial profiling, and that officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths were “investigated inadequately or not at all.”
Clarke said that in New Orleans the police department went from a high of 22 “critical incidents” in 2012 to five in 2023.
In 2024, there was a push to end the over-decade-long consent decree in New Orleans. This move has faced pushback. Residents speaking against ending the consent decree have said they’ve seen and continued to experience racial disparities in use of force, cited poor handling of sex crimes and said community engagement remains lacking.