A federal judge said Thursday that she was prepared to release Newark from the U.S. Justice Department’s decade-long oversight of its police department, a step that will mark the end of a court-imposed overhaul of an agency that was for years both feared and reviled.
The judge, Madeline Cox Arleo, acknowledged the city’s “vast improvements in policing” since 2011, when the federal government began a sweeping investigation that found the police regularly used excessive force and conducted unconstitutional stops and searches.
“I hear today a resounding theme that progress has been made,” Judge Cox Arleo told a courtroom filled with many of the city’s top officials and leaders of organizations that had, for years, demanded reforms.
“I have great hopes that the good work will continue,” she added, noting that the public has two weeks to submit written comments before she issues a final order.
All of the speakers who addressed the court during the hearing on Thursday noted a stark and positive cultural shift within Newark’s Department of Public Safety.
The 1,100-member force is far more racially diverse — 83 percent of its officers are Black or Latino — and better trained. New recruits attend classes at a state-of-the-art academy equipped with a virtual reality studio where officers practice de-escalation techniques. Seasoned veterans are required to take 40 hours of refresher courses each year. Payouts stemming from excessive-force lawsuits have plummeted.
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The post This City Was Forced to Overhaul Its Police Department. Crime Plummeted. appeared first on New York Times.
