Criminal Investigations- Federal Consent Decree

Criminal Investigations- Federal Consent Decree

Part 1: Memorandum

To: All Departments

From: Jennifer Bosley

CC: Other recipients

Subject: Federal Consent Decree on Police Conduct to Enhance Their Relationship With the Community

Greetings

Recently, there developed the need for police enforcement personnel to use body-worn cameras (BWCs) that were in response to the escalated criticism in the community following numerous controversial police usage of force incidents (Braga, et al., 2017). As such, the police force must embrace the BCWs because they will be an essential part of resolving issues related to trust and bolster police accountability.

In essence, community policing is a collaboration between the community and police that helps identify and solve community problems. In this case, the police are not the only guardians of order and the law, implying that every member of the society would be the active keepers of the law. Therefore, to keep these efforts fruitful, the police must ensure that every complaint is appropriately stored to ensure the accountability of everything brought to the department. The community would be able to trust the police department because the pertinent issues they mention are addressed fully.

Also, high-definition cameras and the usage of facial recognition technology would go along to address cases of insecurity throughout the country. Agencies should embrace cloud computing storage to organize evidence digitally. Cloud storage provides efficiency, innovation, and agility, which cannot typically be achieved by onsite servers or traditional ones (Mann, 2016). Digital data storage of law enforcement could include images, and critical evidence that need more storage space that could easily be gained through online cloud computing, and thereby be accessed when needed, which would ensure that the citizens might need to ensure accountability.

By:

Approving Authority

13-10-2021.

 Part 2: Essay

The Rationale for the Notion of Consent Decree

It is crucial to understand that when the notion of consent decree comes to mind, it relates to the agreement that involves parties submitted to the court in writing. As such, once the judge approves it, it, therefore, becomes legally binding. The Department of Justice (DOJ), during the allegations, it realized that in Los Angeles overwhelmingly perform the problematic parts of their job in an entirely lawful manner.

Further, the term consent decree is more known to the general public because they use more violence in areas such as Chicago and Baltimore. A consent decree is a contract created to solve disputes between parties, and neither party admits to blame. This court order institutes a plan that is enforceable to establish some reform. It includes particular requirements for the deadlines and organization for action. Its primary intention is for both parties to agree, whereby they both sign on the document, giving the document legal approval force, rather than engaging in prolonged, costly, and unnecessary trials in the courts of law.

However, it is also vital to understand that this document would be ineffective if both parties disagreed. Therefore, they both must agree fully to make the document more legally binding. As such, the Rationale for this document is that because it is a legally binding document, neither party can appeal it, unless one or both of them violate it, such as is the involvement in cases such as fraud by a given party, or a mutual mistake involving both parties or even a situation whereby the court does not have ascendancy over that case.

Crucially, as soon as the consent decree is signed by every party involved, the plan is immediately implemented, and the federal judge approves an independent monitor to follow up on the case. The monitor has to ensure that they measure progress by asking the parties involved to submit reports to ascertain that the party under the consent decree is fulfilling their end of the bargain as they had pledged (Murray, 2020). The decree could be charged against government institutions such as the police force, or even the large and small businesses that may have violated the law. This document can be brought to the fore when parties involved agree to come into a given court to get this decree, or the federal agency could present the decree to them as an alternative option to trial.

Also, after it was discovered and disclosed that there was widespread corruption, the DOJ informed the City of Los Angeles it wished to file a civil suit maintaining that this department was involving itself with the practice of unnecessary force, seizures, searches, and false arrests that were at best unreasonable. In this case, the DOJ when it has a reason to believe that there were violations, their immediate move is to gain a court order to terminate the practice. With this notion in mind, it made the DOJ enter into the consent decree with other law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. By making these allegations, the Department of Justice realized the vast majority of the police officers in the Los Angeles Department did their difficult jobs lawfully, to which the City utterly denied and they opted to negotiate with the DOJ (“Consent Decree Overview – Los Angeles Police Department,” 2021). Also, to significantly reduce the costly litigation that was even divisive and advance the available practice, the City of Los Angeles also entered into the Civil Rights consent decree.

Furthermore, the consent decree aims to promote the integrity of police within the bounds of the department and disallow behavior and conduct that could curtail or infringe the rights of persons. The main point of intrigue for consent decree is managing measures that promote Civil rights Integrity, investigation documentation, and reviews, among others.

A section of researchers believes that consent decrees are effective to a large extent (Goh, 2020). In a study, it was confirmed that in LA for instance, following the implementation of the Consent Decree, crime is down by a substantial extent. “…recorded crime is down in every police division in the city. A majority of Los Angeles residents no longer rate crime as a big problem, substantially down from only four years ago, and that is true among Black and Hispanic as well as White and Asian residents” (Stone et al., 2009). Residents were asked whether they could see a positive change, and the majority of the responses across the racial and cultural divide maintained that they were hopeful that the program should continue as police were more responsible, often respecting the rights of people and conducting their duties within the confines of the law. It is also apparent that the management of the LAPD has changed for the better due to this decree. With this knowledge, it suffices to maintain that the tracking system of the officers, TEAMS II is making supervisors keen on officers who attracted more complaints from civilians or whether they used more force in comparison to their colleagues.

In conclusion, from the discussion above, the use of tracking systems and cloud storage would certainly go a long way in bolstering the interrelationship between the police force and the general public, which would ensure that they are able to handle and reduce the rate of crime today, as the police are not the only custodians of the law. Also, the consent decree as tested in the discussion, it is evident that there is better behavior from the police in their treatment of civilians and a drop in the cases of police officers infringing on the rights of civilians.

References

Braga, A., Coldren Jr, J. R., Sousa, W., Rodriguez, D., & Alper, O. (2017). The Benefits of Body-Worn Cameras: new findings from a randomized controlled trial at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police. Arlington, VA: CNA.

Consent Decree Overview – Los Angeles Police Department. Lapdonline.org. (2021). https://bit.ly/3AK55lx

Goh, L. (2020). Consent decrees can reduce the number of police-related killings, but only when used alongside court-appointed monitoring.. USAPP. http://bit.ly/3b8Ttw3

Mann, M. (2016). Why cops should be using cloud storage to organize digital evidence. Police1. https://bit.ly/3vkMxqP

Murray, J. (2020). How a Consent Decree Works and When It’s Used. The Balance Small Business. https://bit.ly/30iXJZw

Stone, C., Foglesong, T. S., & Cole, C. M. (2009). Policing Los Angeles under a consent degree: The dynamics of change at the LAPD. Cambridge, MA: Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, Harvard Kennedy School.

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Students should be able to elaborate on the need for a federal consent decree and its impact on law enforcement. From Chicago to Ferguson, federal consent decrees have been put in place because of identified errors due to a lack of law enforcement accountability. Although the target of consent decrees is to help correct a wrong due to violations of federal or state law, some departments are resistant to change. Students should be able to identify 3 law enforcement agencies that were under a federal consent decree and the implemented changes that were recommended.

Write an interoffice memo in which you discuss new guidelines established by a federal consent decree, detailing how local law enforcement officers will track race, number of stops, complaints, and body cam usage to enhance their relationship with the community and focus on de-escalating situations. Please discuss how the data will be stored and tracked via technology to ensure full compliance.
In addition, write a 750–1,000-word essay discussing the rationale for a consent decree and its impact on the community and law enforcement. Students should be able to provide references to validate their claims.
Deliverable:
• Interoffice memo
o 750–1,000-word essay
o Some examples of federal consent decrees that have produced changes for law enforcement
o Discussion on why some law enforcement agencies are not keen on accepting federal consent decrees
o Explore ways in which law enforcement can make changes without needing the government to initiate a federal consent decree
• 3 references to validate claims
• Example of the outcome after the decree went into effect
• Cite your sources via APA.