WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is dismissing lawsuits against a number of local police departments and ending investigations into patterns and practices of unconstitutional behavior, officials announced Wednesday.
The pullback from police oversight comes amid major change at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division since the start of the Trump administration and the confirmation of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who is leading the division.
Officials said lawsuits filed during former President Joe Biden’s administration against two city police departments — Louisville, Kentucky and Minneapolis, Minnesota — would be dismissed.
“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,” Dhillon said in a statement. “Today, we are ending the Biden Civil Rights Division’s failed experiment of handcuffing local leaders and police departments with factually unjustified consent decrees.”
Other investigations into policing in Phoenix, Arizona; Trenton, New Jersey; Memphis, Tennessee; Mount Vernon, New York; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the Louisiana State Police will also end.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
