The U.S. Justice Department has opened 12 investigations into civil rights abuses by police departments since President Biden took office, but has not secured even one binding settlement to implement reforms in any of them, Reuters reports. After winning office following a wave of protests in 2020 over police killings of Black people, the Biden administration highlighted "pattern or practice" investigations of alleged systematic civil rights violations by state or local police as critical to police reform. Attorney General Merrick Garland got off to a swift start, in April 2021 launching investigations into the Minneapolis and Louisville police departments, which became the focus of protests after white police officers killed George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. If Donald Trump wins the election before DOJ reaches court-approved resolutions known as "consent decrees," those probes and others could end without securing binding agreements to reform departments.
"This administration has certainly invested a lot of resources into these cases," said Puneet Cheema of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. "But I think the metric of whether these cases are successful is determined by how they are implemented." A Reuters review shows that the Justice Department under Biden has moved at a slower pace than during President Obama’s first term. A Justice Department spokesperson said that ensuring lawful and effective policing is a "top priority," noting that the department has been enforcing 16 existing agreements while opening 12 new investigations. During Obama's first four years, the department opened 17 investigations and reached negotiated settlements with four jurisdictions - Seattle; New Orleans; East Haven, Conn., and Portland, Oregon. During Obama’s second term, eight more nvestigations were opened and DOJ obtained 14 more agreements or court-ordered reforms. Most involved a consent decree, a court-approved settlement that commits police departments to systemic reforms and often involves oversight by an independent monitor. Of the 12 investigations launched under Biden, the Justice Department has completed four - Minneapolis, Louisville, Phoenix and Lexington, Miss. Minneapolis and Louisville have reached agreements in principle, a precursor to a consent decree, but no final agreements are in place.
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