The U.S. Department of Justice and the city of Louisville have reached an agreement to reform the city’s police department following an investigation sparked by the shooting death of Breonna Taylor and police response to protesters, officials announced Thursday.
The consent decree, which must be approved by a judge, comes after a federal investigation found Louisville police violated constitutional rights and discriminated against the Black community.
“This historic consent decree will build on and accelerate this transformative police reform that has already begun in Louisville,” said Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg. He noted that “significant improvements” had already been made since Taylor’s death in March 2020. This includes a city law that bans the use of “no-knock” warrants, which were commonly used in late-night drug raids.
Shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020, Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman, was woken from her bed by police who came through her door with a battering ram. Three officers opened fire after Taylor’s boyfriend fired his gun, saying he was scared of an intruder. Foot officers. Taylor was hit several times and died in the hallway.
Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, also attended the announcement and said she wants more action from city officials, not words.
“We have a history of putting things on paper and not moving the needle. So we stay on top of things and make sure we’re doing what they say they’re doing. We’ll have to see,” said Palmer, who won $12 million. Wrongful death settlement made by city in 2020.
Since Taylor’s death, the city’s police department has changed leadership about six times.
New Chief Paul Humphrey, a longtime Louisville Police Department veteran, said Thursday that the U.S. attorney’s office “doesn’t make decisions for the city of Louisville,” but praised the agreement with the federal government.
“We believe that having an independent monitor gives us an opportunity to have the community recognize the excellence of our work,” Humphrey said. “This has to be more than just words on a page. It is a promise to our executives and professional staff that we will guide and support them in the right way.”
A Department of Justice report released in March 2023 said Louisville police “discriminated against Black people in enforcement operations,” used excessive force and conducted searches based on invalid warrants. . The ministry also said it was violating the rights of those taking part in the protests.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark, who heads the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said in a statement: “This conduct harmed local residents and undermined the public’s trust in law enforcement, which is essential to public safety.” “This consent decree marks a new day for Louisville.”
Once the consent decree is agreed to, federal officials will monitor the city’s progress.
The agreement requires the Louisville Police Department to review its use-of-force policy, ensure traffic stops and searches are constitutional and not race-based, and improve the department’s response to public demonstrations critical of police operations. I’m looking for.
The Justice Department under the Biden administration has opened 12 civil rights investigations into law enforcement agencies, but this is the first to result in a consent decree. The Justice Department and the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, announced an agreement in 2022, but an investigation into the police department began under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Memphis city officials enact reforms after a federal investigation launched after the murder of Tyre Nichols found that Memphis city employees routinely used disproportionate force and disproportionately targeted Black people. takes a different approach, arguing against the need for a Department of Justice consent decree to do so. Memphis officials have not ultimately ruled in favor of the consent decree, but said the city can make changes more effectively without a binding agreement.
It remains to be seen how efforts to reach such an agreement between cities and the Justice Department will play out once President Trump returns to the White House. The Justice Department under the first Trump administration curtailed its use of consent decrees, and the next Republican president is expected to fundamentally reshape the department’s priorities, again centering civil rights.
