Following Tyre Nichols’ beating murder, a US Justice Department investigation into the Memphis Police Department revealed a history of unconstitutional use of excessive force and prejudice against Black residents of Tennessee’s majority-Black metropolis.
The Memphis case is one of 12 comparable investigations of state and local law enforcement organizations launched by the Justice Department since April 2021. Many have been in response to high-profile police shootings, notably George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. The five other completed investigations discovered patterns of improper police activities.
George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis.
George Floyd died in May 2020 after a white police pinned his neck to the pavement in Minneapolis for 9 1/2 minutes, despite the Black man’s pleadings, “I can’t breathe.” The accompanying global protests, which went violent at times, prompted a national reckoning with racism and police misconduct. Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder.
In June 2023, the Department of Justice produced a report alleging that the Minneapolis police department used excessive force and discrimination. The city committed to settle the issues through a consent decree and an independent monitor.
Following Breonna Taylor’s death in Louisville, Kentucky
Breonna Taylor was shot and died inside her home during a raid in March 2020. Federal and state prosecutors have determined that Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove were justified in returning fire after Taylor’s boyfriend grabbed a weapon and injured Mattingly in the leg. Taylor’s boyfriend claimed he mistaken the cops for intruders breaking in around midnight.
The two policemen departed the department years ago and have not been charged with any crimes. Two other former Louisville cops have been charged in federal court with faking the Taylor warrant.
In March 2023, the DOJ determined that the Louisville Metro Police Department engaged in a pattern of illegal behavior, including executing search warrants without knocking or announcing. The study acknowledged previous modifications made by Louisville police and indicated more corrective measures that were required.
A series of controversies in Phoenix, Arizona.
In Phoenix, there was not a single incident that prompted the DOJ investigation. Instead, it occurred after a series of minor controversies. A 2020 case accusing 15 protesters of being members of an anti-police gang was dismissed due to a lack of credible evidence; in 2017, a “challenge coin” depicting a gas mask-wearing demonstrator being shot in the groin with a projectile; and in June 2019, cell phone video emerged showing officers pointing guns when they confronted an unarmed Black couple with two small children they suspected of shoplifting.
This June, the Justice Department produced a report revealing that the Phoenix Police Department engaged in a number of illegal actions. They included the unlawful arrest and disposal of homeless people’s belongings, the use of lethal force without justification, and prejudice against Black, Hispanic, and Native American persons, as well as those facing mental health crises.
City officials have stated that they are reviewing the report. They have also developed a new website outlining the police department’s “road to reform” and efforts to reduce the frequency of use of force occurrences.
Civil Rights Violations in Lexington, Mississippi
The DOJ investigation into Lexington, Miss., came after a civil rights group filed a complaint accusing police in this small, rural town of terrorizing Black citizens through bogus arrests, excessive force, and intimidation. According to the September investigation, the Lexington Police Department “has created a system where officers can relentlessly violate the law.”
The department functions in an unconstitutional conflict of interest because it is primarily funded by penalties. According to the research, police often arrest people who are unable to pay fines or owing outstanding penalties, and people are incarcerated without fast access to court or an assessment of their ability to pay bail.
The city and police completely cooperated with the inquiry and agreed to work with the DOJ to resolve the issues.
Excessive force in Trenton, New Jersey.
Last month, the Department of Justice issued a report in Trenton, New Jersey, concluding that cops in the state’s capital have a history of wrongdoing, including the use of excessive force and unconstitutional stops. The study details arrests without a legal basis, officers exacerbating situations with aggressiveness, and the inappropriate use of pepper spray.
Officials stated that the city has and will continue to cooperate with the DOJ. Trenton has dismantled two police department street units, which officials claim violated the constitution.
Six more are still in progress.
Six comparable investigations are still ongoing.
In Louisiana, the Justice Department announced a federal investigation in 2022 following an Associated Press investigation of Ronald Greene’s fatal 2019 arrest and at least a dozen episodes in which troopers or their superiors ignored or suppressed evidence of beatings.
The Westchester County district attorney requested that federal authorities investigate the Mount Vernon Police police, which is located in a suburb of New York City. The district attorney claimed that the police conducts illegal strip searches.
The Special Victims Division of the New York City Police Department is being investigated for how it handles sexual assault crimes, following years of complaints about how detectives treat crime victims.
In Oklahoma, the DOJ is looking into whether the state, Oklahoma City, and Oklahoma City police discriminate against mentally ill adults, including institutionalizing them when they could be treated in the community.
The torture of two black males by white sheriff’s officers in Mississippi prompted an investigation of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department. Following an Associated Press investigation, five Rankin police and one from another department were prosecuted and sentenced to 10- to 40-year penalties.
In Massachusetts, federal prosecutors did not identify a specific incident that prompted their investigation into a suspected pattern of excessive force and discriminatory policing. The investigation followed a complaint filed by a Black man who claimed he was wrongly charged with murder due to his race and manufactured evidence.
