Last month, Dhillon demoted senior attorneys who handled #police #abuse investigations to other low-level assignments, such as handling public records requests or adjudicating internal discrimination complaints.
Those moves are part of a broader effort by the #Trump admin to upend the #CivilRights Division's traditions of pursuing cases to protect the civil rights of some of the country's most vulnerable & historically disenfranchised populations.

But during #Biden’s / #MerrickGarland’s 4 yrs the #DOJ failed to enter into any court-binding consent decrees, an issue that legal experts warned could put the dept's #police #accountability work at risk of being undone.

Under Dhillon's *leadership*, the #CivilRights Division has lost >100 of its attorneys through firings, deferred resignation agreements, demotions & resignations.

#Congress authorized the #DOJ to conduct civil investigations into constitutional #abuses by #police, such as excessive use of force or racially-motivated policing, in 1994, as a response to the horrific beating of #RodneyKing, a #Black man, by #white #LAPD officers.

During #Biden's presidency, the #CivilRights Division launched 12 such "pattern or practice" investigations into police depts including #Phoenix, #NYC, #Trenton, #Memphis & #Lexington.

#Louisville & #Minneapolis were the 2 most high-profile cities to be investigated during former Democratic President Joe #Biden's admin for systemic #police #abuse, & were the only 2 cities that agreed in principle to enter into a court-approved settlement with the #DOJ known as a consent decree.

Minneapolis also separately entered a similar type of settlement with the state of #Minnesota to reform its police practices.

The move comes 4 days before the May 25 5yr anniversary of the death of #GeorgeFloyd, a #Black man who was murdered by Derek Chauvin, a #white #police officer who knelt on his neck as Floyd repeatedly pleaded that he couldn't breathe.
Floyd's killing, & the killing of #BreonnaTaylor who was shot to death by #Louisville Police executing a no-knock warrant, sparked worldwide protests about racially-motivated policing practices during the final year of #Trump's 1st term.
#law #DOJ #BLM #CivilRights

She also announced that the #DOJ will be closing out investigations & retracting prior findings of wrongdoing against the #police departments in #Phoenix, #Arizona, #Memphis, #Tennessee, #Trenton, #NewJersey, #MountVernon, #NewYork, #OklahomaCity, #Oklahoma & the #Louisiana State Police.

Harmeet Dhillon, the asst AG for the #DOJ's *#CivilRights* Division, said her office will seek to dismiss the pending litigation against the 2 cities & retract the dept's prior findings of constitutional violations.
"Overbroad #police consent decrees divest local control of policing from communities *where it belongs*, turning that power over to unelected & unaccountable bureaucrats, often with an anti-police agenda," Dhillon said in a [BS] stmnt.
#law #BLM #PoliceReform #Minneapolis #Louisville