{"id":4679,"date":"2025-05-28T17:09:39","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T17:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chicagocouncil.org\/staging\/1601\/?p=4679"},"modified":"2025-05-28T18:05:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T18:05:18","slug":"the-justice-departments-retreat-on-police-accountability-is-a-dangerous-step-backward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chicagocouncil.org\/staging\/1601\/the-justice-departments-retreat-on-police-accountability-is-a-dangerous-step-backward\/","title":{"rendered":"The Justice Department\u2019s Retreat on Police Accountability is a Dangerous Step Backward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The recent announcement that the Justice Department is dismissing lawsuits against police departments in Louisville and Minneapolis and ending investigations into systemic unconstitutional policing practices is nothing short of a catastrophic retreat from justice. This pullback, coinciding with the leadership change in the Civil Rights Division under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, signals a troubling shift away from federal oversight that has been crucial in addressing entrenched police misconduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pattern and practice investigations are not about punishing isolated bad actors; they target those in police agencies who routinely violate the constitutional rights of the citizens they serve through, for example, the use of excessive force, racial discrimination, and the suppression of free speech. The DOJ\u2019s own 2023 findings laid bare how systemic failures within the Minneapolis Police Department made the murder of George Floyd possible. To now dismiss the lawsuits that provide federal court oversight over problematic police agencies and halt investigations that uncover unconstitutional policing is to turn a blind eye to the very conditions that allow such tragedies to occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dhillon\u2019s claim that police consent decrees are \u201coverbroad\u201d and strip local control is a convenient smokescreen. The administration\u2019s \u201chands off\u201d approach will actually handcuff communities\u2014especially marginalized ones\u2014by removing a critical federal check on abusive policing. Federal court oversight has proven an essential tool for reforming troubled police agencies precisely because local control was ineffective at routing out unconstitutional police practices. Local control without sufficient legal infrastructure supporting accountability is a recipe for continued injustice<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"754\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/chicagocouncil.org\/staging\/1601\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Police_protest-1.jpg\" alt=\"A person holds a sign over their head. The sign reads &quot;We Demand Police Accountability&quot;. There is a flag of the United States in the background.\" class=\"wp-image-4678 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/chicagocouncil.org\/staging\/1601\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Police_protest-1-300x236.jpg 300w, https:\/\/chicagocouncil.org\/staging\/1601\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Police_protest-1-768x603.jpg 768w, https:\/\/chicagocouncil.org\/staging\/1601\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Police_protest-1.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>For lawyers, activists, and communities committed to police reform, this development demands a recalibration of strategy. Federal oversight may be waning, but the fight for constitutional policing is far from over. It\u2019s time to double down on state and local legal avenues, push for legislative reforms, and harness public pressure to hold police departments accountable.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The Justice Department\u2019s abdication is a call to action, not surrender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Felix LaShawn Mitchell, JD<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The recent announcement that the Justice Department is dismissing lawsuits  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[142,135,9],"class_list":["post-4679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-civil-rights","tag-department-of-justice","tag-police-accountability"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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