These Cities Just Lost Federal Protection Against Police Abuse
The Trump administration recently ended federal investigations into several corrupt police agencies. Here's what could happen next.
President Donald Trump has stopped federal police reform efforts enacted under the Biden administration.
The Justice Department ordered a halt to all open civil rights investigations into police departments. This includes investigations into departments such as the NYPD’s Special Victims Division and the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office, where the DOJ found systemic civil rights violations.
As of this moment, each of these agencies is off the hook.
Despite findings of extensive police misconduct in these agencies – including excessive force, racial discrimination, illegal searches, and others – The Marshall Project notes that “it will be tough to overhaul police practices without federal involvement in each of these places.”
That seems to be the point.
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly promised to offer even more protection to members of law enforcement. It was an appeal to the “Back the Blue” crowd and a shot at the “All Cops Are Bastards” faction.
Cities like Memphis, Phoenix, and Trenton had not yet entered into consent decrees, legally binding agreements approved and enforced by a federal judge. These agreements require law enforcement departments to implement specific reforms following a civil rights investigation. They are negotiated between the Justice Department and local or state governments to avoid litigation.
This move is nothing new for Trump; under the his first term, Attorney General Jeff Sessions attempted to derail other investigations that began under the Obama administration.
Without oversight, it is unlikely that residents of these cities will see any meaningful improvement in their local and state law enforcement agencies. People will suffer even more civil rights abuses since police departments know they will never be held accountable.
Louisiana State Rep. C. Denise Marcelle noted, “The question becomes: How does this influence the actions of the officers?”
She added: “Because if the officers can say, ‘Hey look, we’re not going to be held accountable,’ then we’re going backward. They’ll think, ‘We can do what we want because there’s not going to be a DOJ around to hold us accountable.’”
She’s right. When police know they are not under scrutiny, there is nothing stopping them from using their badges to harm civilians.
The DOJ’s investigation into the Lexington Police Department in Mississippi, for example, revealed deep systemic abuses against its 1,200 residents. The report found that the 10-officer department was “brutalizing Black residents, siphoning money from the poor and people with disabilities, sexually propositioning women,” and making arrests for fabricated offenses such as cursing.
The report noted that officers often held people in jail “for days at a time” without due process. Local activist Cardell Wright said, “Police officers in these smaller communities, they can sit and hide because they know that the state and national media are not focused on smaller areas.”
You see why I’m always preaching about paying attention to local politics?
The DOJ accused Louisiana State Police of routinely violating constitutional rights, particularly during traffic stops, though state officials denied the findings. Gov. Jeff Landry dismissed the report as something that “diminished the work of the officers,” while Attorney General Liz Murrill accused DOJ investigators of being “political appointees continuing to use the agency to advance a political agenda.”
Try not to be too shocked that government officials deny corruption within its ranks.
The Department of Justice’s investigation into the Mount Vernon Police Department (MVPD) exposed a disgusting pattern of misconduct, including excessive use of force, unconstitutional strip and cavity searches, and unlawful arrests. I wrote a whole article about it here.
The report explained that MVPD officers “routinely conducted strip searches on all arrestees, violating the Fourth Amendment” and “rarely documented strip and cavity searches when they occurred, making oversight nearly impossible.”
One egregious incident involved the unlawful strip search of two elderly women after a traffic stop “based on a fabricated claim of a drug transaction,” where officers “told them to bend over and cough” despite finding no contraband.
As in most other reports of this nature, the DOJ stressed that officers engage in these practices due to a lack of accountability and oversight. For example, “five MVPD officers used force on a man they suspected of selling narcotics,” resulting in severe injuries after multiple officers beat and tased him during a chaotic arrest.
Because of the Trump administration, abuses such as these will now go unaddressed.
So, what’s the upshot here? It’s hard to tell at this point. It’s possible that the DOJ might review the cases it halted and then decide to go through with them.
I hope this happens, but I don’t think it will.
It is more probable that the administration will scrap these investigations altogether. Trump ran on a law-and-order campaign in 2024 amid heightened crime rates. Unfortunately, many who shout “law and order” rarely apply this principle to the officers tasked with enforcing it.
For some, federal intervention in state or local law enforcement is anathema to the concept of federalism. But this is not the case when it involves an agency that continually violates constitutional rights.
Under the 14th Amendment, the federal government has a duty to ensure equal protection under the law. Under 34 U.S. Code § 12601 the DOJ can act when it finds patterns of misconduct – especially when they involve civil rights abuses.
The point is that the role of government is to protect our rights – especially from itself. Yes, there has been much demonization of police over the past four years. Some of this was undeserved. But much of it was very much warranted.
Even further, this does not mean police agencies should be empowered to run roughshod over people’s rights.
The fact remains. Law enforcement is an arm of the state. Those who support limited government should want more oversight over those tasked with enforcing our laws. When the police know they won’t be held accountable for violating our rights, they have no reason to respect them. In the end, it is the everyday person who suffers.
"When the police know they won't be held accountable for violating our rights, they have no reason to respect them."
And in return, normal people have no reason to respect the police, and instead will see them as an occupying army, to be avoided when possible and thwarted when appropriate.
The war on drugs, and on other consensual behavior, have made it inevitable that the cops see everyone else as a potential criminal. It's "us vs. them", where fellow cops are "us" and the rest of the population are "them". Cops whine and moan about how terrible it is that so many people hate them, but very few own up to the fact that they've written that script themselves, by agreeing to enforce unjust laws that infringe on the natural rights of a free country.
Great synopsis of this issue, Jeff. And once again highlights the need for local community involvement and not depend on the Federal government to "do the right thing".