A history of unconstitutional use of excessive force and prejudice against the Black population of the majority-Black city in Tennessee was discovered during a U.S. Justice Department investigation of the Memphis Police Department following Tyre Nichols’ beating death.
Since April 2021, the DOJ has launched 12 comparable investigations of state and local law enforcement organizations, including the Memphis case. Many have occurred in reaction to well-known police-caused deaths, such as those of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Patterns of unlawful police conduct were discovered in all five of the other completed investigations.
The Minneapolis murder of George Floyd
Despite the Black man’s cries of “I can’t breathe,” George Floyd died in May 2020 after a white police in Minneapolis forced his neck to the pavement for nine and a half minutes. The subsequent international demonstrations, which occasionally descended into violence, forced a national reckoning on racism and police abuse.Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of killing someone.
The DOJ reported in June 2023 that the Minneapolis police department had a history of prejudice and excessive force. With the help of an impartial monitor, the city consented to settle the findings through a consent decree.
Following Breonna Taylor’s passing in Louisville, Kentucky
During a raid in March 2020, Breonna Taylor was shot and died at her house. Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly were justified in retaliating when Taylor’s boyfriend snatched a weapon and shot Mattingly in the leg, according to federal and state authorities. According to Taylor’s boyfriend, he thought the police were investigating a break-in after midnight.
The two cops were not charged with any crimes and left the department years ago. A federal judge has charged two other former Louisville cops of fabricating the Taylor warrant.
The DOJ revealed in March 2023 that the Louisville Metro Police Department had engaged in a pattern of illegal behavior, including carrying out search warrants without knocking or making an announcement. The report recognized the progress Louisville police had achieved and pointed out the need for more corrective action.
A string of controversies in Phoenix, Arizona
There was not a single incident in Phoenix that prompted the DOJ’s inquiry. Rather, it followed numerous minor controversies. A challenge coin featuring a demonstrator wearing a gas mask being shot in the groin with a projectile circulated among officers in 2017, and in June 2019, cell phone footage surfaced showing officers pointing guns when they confronted an unarmed Black couple with two small children they suspected of shoplifting. In 2020, a case accusing 15 protesters of being part of an anti-police gang had to be dismissed due to a lack of credible evidence.
The Justice Department reported in June of this year that the Phoenix Police Department had engaged in a number of illegal activities. These included prejudice against Black, Hispanic, and Native American individuals as well as those going through mental health crises; unjustly detaining homeless people and taking away their possessions; and the needless use of lethal force.
According to city officials, the report is being examined. Additionally, a new website detailing the police department’s reform journey and efforts to lower the amount of use-of-force occurrences has been launched.
In Lexington, Mississippi, civil rights violations
Following a lawsuit by a civil rights organization accusing the police in Lexington, Mississippi, of intimidating Black people, using excessive force, and making false arrests, the DOJ launched an inquiry into the town. According to a September investigation, the Lexington Police Department has established a framework that permits officers to consistently break the law.
Due to its partly funding from penalties, the department functions under an unlawful conflict of interest. According to the report, police frequently make arrests of persons who are unable to pay fines or who have unpaid fines, and then imprison them without giving them timely access to the court or determining whether they can afford bail.
In addition to pledging to collaborate with the DOJ to resolve the infractions, the city and police provided complete cooperation with the inquiry.
Overuse of force in Trenton, NJ
Just last month, the DOJ released a report in Trenton, New Jersey, which found that police officers in the state capital have a history of wrongdoing, including making illegal stops and using excessive force. The study details officers using pepper spray needlessly, making arrests without a warrant, and escalating confrontations with hostility.
According to officials, the city has cooperated with the DOJ and will do so in the future. Two street units of the Trenton police force have already been dismissed for allegedly violating the constitution, according to officials.
Six more are still being worked on.
There are currently six such investigations underway.
Following an Associated Press investigation of Ronald Greene’s fatal 2019 arrest and at least a dozen cases where troopers or their supervisors disregarded or buried evidence of beatings, the Justice Department in Louisiana began a federal review in 2022.
The district attorney for Westchester County suggested that the Mount Vernon Police Department, located in a suburb of New York City, has an issue with unlawful strip searches and requested that federal authorities look into the department.
After years of complaints regarding the way detectives treat crime victims, the New York City Police Department’s Special Victims Division is underinvestigated for how it handles sexual assault crimes.
The Department of Justice is looking into whether the state, Oklahoma City, and Oklahoma City police discriminate against adults with mental illnesses, including by putting them in institutions when they may receive assistance in the community.
The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department was investigated after two black men were tortured by white sheriff’s officers in Mississippi. Five Rankin policemen and one from a different department were indicted and given sentences ranging from 10 to 40 years after an Associated Press investigation.
Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts did not identify a single incident that led them to look into a potential pattern of discriminatory policing and excessive force. The investigation came after a Black man filed a complaint alleging he was falsely accused of murder due to his race and falsified evidence.
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