The DOJ wants to oversee MPD. What impact does the incoming Trump administration have?

Following the conclusion of the U.S. Department of Justice's pattern-or-practice investigation into the Memphis Police Department, the city of Memphis told the department Wednesday it would not enter into a consent decree with the government.

The DOJ released the results of the investigation Wednesday evening, which was launched in the months after the beating death of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police officers and other officer-involved deaths in Memphis.

Though the report had not been released prior to the city releasing their letter, the city declining to enter into an agreement, which would start negotiations about the consent decree, alludes to the DOJ finding some pattern or practice within the department violating Memphians' civil rights.

A "consent decree" operates like a performance improvement plan that is enforced by a federal judge.

The investigation was launched under President Joe Biden's administration, which has shown a strong interest in bringing accountability measures forward for police departments via DOJ investigations and subsequent consent decrees. With Biden now sitting as a lame-duck president, the incoming Republican administration could put an end to consent decrees and halt DOJ investigations into police departments.

What is a consent decree?

A consent decree is a legal negotiation between two parties who have a dispute, which resolves it without either party admitting guilt or liability. In the context of the pattern-or-practice investigation into MPD, it puts the department on notice that the DOJ believes they have violated the civil rights of Memphians and is asking to monitor the department.

Congress has authorized the DOJ to conduct investigations and, in turn, issue consent decrees after investigations into both local and state authorities for violating federal law. Consent decrees are not limited to police departments. Under the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, the Justice Department's civil rights division has the power to investigate systemic police misconduct.

"The Department has used such authorities to secure equal opportunity in education, protect the environment, ensure constitutional policing practices, defend the free exercise of religion, eliminate discriminatory housing practices, redress sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination in the workplace, make water safe to drink, increase access for people with disabilities, guard voting rights, and vindicate the rights of servicemembers," according to the DOJ.

When an investigation conducted by the DOJ finds that a local or state entity has violated state law, the entity is put on notice by the federal government and, in many cases, agrees to monitoring or a complete takeover by the federal government or face fine or more litigation for future violations.

Memphis is currently under a consent decree from 1978, and Shelby County entered into two consent decrees since 2000. Neither of the consent decrees for the county are still active.

What has Trump done in the past with consent decrees?

The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump has dealt with DOJ investigations coming to a close weeks before they take office before. In August 2016, at the tail end of Barack Obama's second term, the DOJ released its investigation findings into the city of Baltimore and its police department and asked for a consent decree with the department.

The city of Baltimore was investigated by the DOJ starting in May 2015 following the death of Freddie Gray, a Black man who died in police custody. The city of Baltimore and the DOJ were able to come to an agreement seven months after the investigation concluded, and four months into Trump's first term in office.

Trump's first Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a statement in April 2017, the day the consent decree was agreed upon, regarding a district court's entry of a consent decree for the police department in Baltimore.

“Today, a federal court entered a consent decree that will require the court and a highly-paid monitor to govern every detail of how the Baltimore Police Department functions for the foreseeable future. This decree was negotiated during a rushed process by the previous administration and signed only days before they left office," Sessions said in the statement. "While the Department of Justice continues to fully support police reform in Baltimore, I have grave concerns that some provisions of this decree will reduce the lawful powers of the police department and result in a less safe city."

Sessions called out rising violent crime stats, homicides ticking up and arrest rates falling "based on some of these ill-advised reforms."

“In short, the citizens of Baltimore are plagued by a rash of violent crime that shows no signs of letting up," the statement said.

Days earlier, Sessions ordered a review of all police reform agreements and investigations initiated by the Justice Department, part of an effort to cut back on federal oversight of local law enforcement. The review put the Baltimore consent decree on hold before a federal judge let it stand.

This was not the only Trump administration move to restrict the DOJ's purview to investigate and hold police departments accountable for their actions against citizens. Days before his resignation from the Trump administration, Sessions issued a memo on Nov. 18, 2017, that made the practice of issuing consent decrees much harder and require more approval.

During the Trump administration, the DOJ only launched one investigation into a police department. For comparison, the Biden administration launched 12.

Look to Chicago for what could happen in Memphis

The DOJ launched a pattern-or-practice investigation into the Chicago Police Department in 2015, after the death of Laquan McDonald, a Black teenager who was killed by a white police officer. The findings of the investigation were released one week before Trump took office in 2017.

Under Trump's administration, the DOJ declined to enter into a consent decree with Chicago. Under Illinois' Democratic then-Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the city of Chicago entered into a state-level consent decree. A federal judge signed their approval of the consent decree in January 2019.

Sessions gave a speech before the Chicago Crime Commission in October 2018, a week after the state and city agreed on a consent decree, calling the city's move to enter into a consent decree agreement a "colossal mistake." The DOJ formally opposed the consent decree agreement as well.

The timeline for the release of the Chicago investigation and Memphis investigation are similar and could give insight as to how a consent decree deal could play out in Memphis.

While the Memphis investigation has concluded, the city alleged in its letter that the investigation by the DOJ was rushed and they have not had adequate time to review the findings to enter into an agreement in principle.

"The Agreement would require the City to agree in principle to negotiate a consent decree aimed at institutional police and emergency services improvement without having adequate time or opportunity to review and/or vet the DOJ’s forthcoming findings report," the letter reads. "In the best interest of our community, we cannot do that. Moreover, the investigation and unreleased findings only took 17 months to complete, compared to an average of 2-3 years in almost every other instance, implying a rush to judgment."

Reporter Lucas Finton contributed to this report.