And I really felt that we were headed to a fatality.”The Justice Department under President Barack Obama described the discriminatory pattern of traffic stops and a host of other practices by the East Haven Police Department as unconstitutional policing. But using consent decrees as an instrument to restructure police departments was largely abandoned by the Trump administration, which broadly rolled back civil rights efforts by the Justice Department. A 2015 Washington Post examination of police department changes compelled by the Justice Department found that the departments modernized some aspects of policing, but had a limited impact on the use of force. After the Justice Department concluded its investigation and put the department under decree, Lennon became the compliance coordinator in charge of spearheading the department’s response. His predecessor, Larrabee, left the regional chiefs associations after feeling his colleagues had distanced themselves from East Haven.

Source: Washington Post December 29, 2020 17:57 UTC