DOJ to Dismiss Reforms, Lawsuits Against Ky., Mpls. Police Agencies
By Taylor Six
Source Lexington Herald-Leader
What to know
- The U.S. Department of Justice is taking steps to dismiss reforms and lawsuits targeting the Louisville and Minneapolis police departments.
- Consent decrees and other reforms against the Louisville and Minneapolis police agencies stemmed from the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor and the death of George Floyd, respectively.
- Investigations in Phoenix; Trenton, New Jersey; Memphis, Tennessee; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, are also planned to be dismissed.
By Taylor Six
Source Lexington Herald-Leader
The federal government is dismissing a consent decree and lawsuit aimed at reforming the troubled Louisville Metro Police Department, the United States Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Louisville signed a “historic” consent decree with the justice department in December 2024 that sought to address civil rights violations in the department.
The court-enforceable agreement outlined changes that must be made to the police department’s policies, including use of force, reporting, data collection, search warrants, street enforcement, arrests and citations to name a few.
The move came a few years after public outcry following the fatal police shooting of Louisville resident Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman and emergency room technician.
But the justice department announced Wednesday it was moving to dismiss “Biden-era” lawsuits against Louisville and Minneapolis, Minnesota police departments.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said 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 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,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the department’s civil rights division. “Today, we are ending the Biden Civil Rights Division’s failed experiment of handcuffing local leaders and police departments with factually unjustified consent decrees.”
Dhillon was sworn in April 7, by Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
In addition to Louisville and Minneapolis, the division is planning to close investigations in Phoenix; Trenton, New Jersey; Memphis, TN; Mount Vernon, NY; Oklahoma City; and Louisiana State Police.
Louisville officials were not immediately available for comment.
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