Dive Brief:
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The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced Wednesday it is dismissing Biden-era lawsuits and police accountability agreements calling for overhauls of the Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky, police departments.
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“The decrees would’ve micromanaged local policing, from hiring to training, under unelected monitors, costing millions and stripping power from communities,” the DOJ Civil Rights Division said in a post on X Wednesday. The Justice Department is ending investigations into five additional cities and the Louisiana State Police.
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the cities would continue to implement police reform work already under way.
Dive Insight:
In the final weeks of the Biden administration, the Justice Department filed lawsuits accusing Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky, of unconstitutional policing and reached consent decree agreements – which have not been approved by a judge – outlining policy, resource and training requirements that would guide reform efforts.
A 2023 DOJ investigation found the Minneapolis Police Department engaged in “a pattern or practice of conduct” that used excessive force, discriminated against Black and Native American people, and showed persistent deficiencies in accountability systems, training, supervision and officer wellness programs.
That investigation was triggered after George Floyd was killed in 2020 by Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murder two months after Breonna Taylor was killed by Louisville police officers. The events set off protests in many cities.
The DOJ said in a press release that it will take “all necessary steps to dismiss the Louisville and Minneapolis lawsuits with prejudice, to close the underlying investigations into the Louisville and Minneapolis police departments, and to retract the Biden administration’s findings of constitutional violations.”
“Overbroad police consent decrees divest local control of policing from communities where it belongs, turning that power over to unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats, often with an anti-police agenda,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said.
The Civil Rights Division is also closing investigations and retracting Biden administration findings that police departments in Phoenix; Trenton, New Jersey; Memphis, Tennessee; Mount Vernon, New York; Oklahoma City,; and the Louisiana State Police violated the Constitution.
Frey, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and other city leaders reiterated their commitment to continuing police reform work. “We’re doing it anyway,” Frey said in a press release. “We will implement every reform outlined in the consent decree—because accountability isn’t optional.”
Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez said on X that the council “will do everything possible” to implement provisions in the consent decree. “It’s painful to see the voices of our community be dismissed,” he wrote. “While the federal government has abandoned efforts to hold the police accountable, you have my commitment to ensure that we do not lose any of the reforms our community was meant to gain from this.”
Greenberg stated in a press release that Louisville was “moving ahead rapidly to continue implementing police reform that ensures constitutional policing while providing transparency and accountability to our community.”
Greenberg and Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphrey announced they would implement a local version of the consent decree. Greenberg said the city would solicit applications for an independent monitor and hold community engagement sessions regarding police conduct, as proposed in the consent decree.
“The Louisville Metro Police Department is committed to continuous improvement,” Humphrey said. “We recognized the value of meaningful reforms early on and have already made significant progress in several areas.”
Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, applauded the DOJ’s actions in a press release. “Federal intervention through consent decrees does not improve public safety, quality of life for residents, or the morale of the men and women whose lives are on the line every day,” he said. “We need a Federal partner, not Federal monitors, if we are to improve policing in our communities.”
Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, slammed the DOJ decision in a press release, calling it “a giant stumble backward in the journey toward justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tyre Nichols, Dexter Wade, Sandra Bland, Tami Rice, Eric Garner, and the countless other Black and Brown men and women who were unjustly killed by police.”
NAN and other civil liberties groups are holding a four-day event in Houston this weekend to honor Floyd’s legacy. The fifth anniversary of Floyd’s death is May 25.
