DOJ Moves To Repeal Compliance Decree With Seattle Police Department


Washington
CNN

On Tuesday, the Justice Department made the decision to terminate the Seattle Police Department compliance order, ending more than a decade of federal oversight of the police department.

The Seattle Consent Decree was passed by the Obama administration in 2012 after Department of Justice investigation discovered that the local police department used to use excessive force.

In particular, the Department of Justice found at the time that the police department used weapons either excessively or unnecessarily in more than half of the cases during arrests, and that police officers practiced discriminatory practices during collisions with pedestrians.

The Seattle Police Department has made “far-reaching reforms” since the consent decree was issued and is now a “transformed organization,” the City of Seattle and the Department of Justice said in a court filing Tuesday.

The statement said the Seattle Police Department “has made significant progress,” stressing that the department has maintained a strict use of force policy and implemented a crisis intervention program. “Any existing pattern or practice of using unconstitutional force has been eliminated.”

The request will be directed to a federal judge in Washington state who has monitored the police department’s progress and compliance with police reform since the consent decree was signed in 2012.

If approved, the end of the consent decree would be a major milestone in the function of implementing police reform under federal oversight. There are several similar and ongoing compliance ordinances with police departments around the country, as well as pattern and practice investigations similar to the one in Seattle.

Critics of consent decrees point to multi-year agreements as evidence that federal oversight and investigations can last several years. Early in Biden’s administration, the Justice Department introduced new reforms to try to shorten the duration of federal oversight.

The Justice Department and City of Seattle request for continued narrow federal oversight in two cases where they say the police department is still struggling to “ensure a robust system of accountability” and “improve enforcement, accountability, and verification of force.” in a crowd.”