Detroit Asks for End of Federal Monitoring of Police

A decade after crackdown over law enforcement misconduct

A decade after unconstitutional conduct landed the Detroit Police Department under two consent decrees, the city is asking that the federal monitor suspend monitoring on use of force and witness detention provisions that the department has been complaint with for two years.

In a motion filed in U.S. District Court, attorney Allan M. Charlton wrote that the department now is "vastly improved" from 10 years ago.

The city entered into two consent decrees with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2003, after police were accused of engaging in unconstitutional use of force, arrest and detention practices.

The motion comes after Judge Julian Abele Cook Jr. issued an order Thursday that the federal monitor needed to increase the frequency of is visits to Detroit because the city is non-compliant with 12% of the requirements in the use of force consent judgment.

The city is in full compliance with the conditions of confinement consent judgment and in compliance with 93% of the requirements in the consent judgments overall, the order says.