After a few local news stories touted how great the consent decree was in Albuquerque, we wondered what the metric was for “great.” Considering that since agreeing to a consent decree, the overall violent crime in Albuquerque has risen 80% while the budget ballooned 38% and staffing was reduced by 11%, we wondered if somehow…
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…
In early November the US Department of Justice (DOJ) held secret closed-door meetings with the Phoenix Police Chief and the City Manager to discuss the DOJ’s pattern-or-practice investigation of the Phoenix Police Department. These two city officials failed to disclose to the City Council or the community that these meetings occurred, and they refused to…
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…
Note: There are very few that speak the truth on what Consent Decrees are doing to our communities but Bob Scales is not one of them. Mr. Scales has intimate knowledge, after working with the DOJ, what consent decrees are actually about and we have found encouragement from him. He often speaks about the issue…
I have discussed consent decrees and the damage they are doing to communities in detail here in recent months and while I need to move on, the danger they pose to communities cannot be overstated. With a 30 year track record of making cities more violent while destroying local police agencies, it is hard to understand why any city would even…