Can Federal Intervention Bring Lasting Improvement in Local Policing?

Abstract

Ten years ago, Congress gave the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department new powers to sue state and local governments in federal court to correct a “pattern or practice” of police misconduct. In Pittsburgh—the first city to enter into a consent decree with the Justice Department—most provisions of the decree were lifted after the Bureau of Police was judged to be in substantial compliance. Pittsburgh, therefore, is the first place we can look to see how the police can satisfy the Justice Department and whether this new kind of federal intervention can make a lasting difference. To answer those questions, the COPS Office funded a report produced by the Vera Institute of Justice. This report is a follow-up study to another COPS Office publication, “Turning Necessity into Virtue,” which is an examination of the Pittsburgh Police Department while it was under the consent decree.