Here on SavePhx.com, we often write about the devastating consequences of Consent Decrees in cities across the country where the U.S. Department of Justice has imposed them – resulting in the ruinous trifecta of increased crime rates, out-of-control ineffective spending by the millions, and police officers leaving agencies in droves. One of the most clear-cut…
Since October 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has opened two new pattern or practice investigations of municipal law enforcement agencies: the Trenton (N.J.) Police Department and the Lexington (Miss.) Police Department. This brings the total number of active DOJ investigations of local and state police agencies to nine: Phoenix Police Department…
It’s unfortunate that it takes the effort by a group of volunteers to educate the public on the damage that police consent decrees do but that pales into comparison as to the media silence on the issue. While there have certainly seen some media outlets that have reported on these issues, many are simply trying…
There seems to be some confusion as to what agencies should be doing once the Department of Justice launches an investigation. Leaders across the country, including Phoenix Interim Police Chief Michael Sullivan, act like they are completely paralyzed while they “wait” for the conclusion of the DOJ Investigation. Anyone that can read the historical nature…
VALLEJO, CA. – A Solano County Superior Court judge indicated last week that he will not enforce some elements of a stipulated judgment between the Vallejo Police Department and the California Department of Justice, and may not approve the document at all. The Vallejo Sun reported that Judge Stephen Gizzi wrote in an order to show cause…
Anyone with a fifth-grade literacy level can see clearly from this website and others that DOJ consent decrees are unmitigated disasters for the cities that are forced into “voluntarily” agreeing to them. Law enforcement agencies and communities are destroyed after the Department of Justice (DOJ) implements a Consent Decree. Consent decrees only occur under two…
Moments after the Arizona Diamondbacks clinched the National League pennant by winning game 7 of the NLCS, the Phoenix Police Department sent out an all-hands on deck email notifying all its sworn officers that the department was implementing a mobilization plan it calls “maximum staffing”. Effective Monday October 30 through Saturday, no sworn employees will…
I have written and discussed the abject failure that Consent Decrees have had on American Law Enforcement and the communities they serve more times than you likely cared to see but the topic is much larger than simply government control (and destruction) of a few law enforcement agencies but part of a larger and scarier…
The Department of Justice has the authority to conduct “pattern and practice” investigations into departments it suspects of violating constitutional rights. But what does that even mean? What are the conditions and criteria for such an investigation? Law enforcement is already a delicate business. Cops everywhere know the stakes, and police also go to great…