What is happening in Louisville? In March the US Department of Justice (DOJ) held a press conference announcing that the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) had a pattern-or-practice of unconstitutional policing. DOJ said that LMPD officers routinely violated constitutional rights and that the only remedy was for the City to enter into a consent decree….
In the wake of high-profile police-involved incidents, calls to reform often dysfunctional departments grow deafening. Like a superhero, the Department of Justice heeds those calls for help, wielding its trusty tool – the federal consent decree or court-monitored agreement with the city to implement police reforms. But that blunt instrument often proves to be ineffective…
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…