Detroit making strides with police reforms, report says
Detroit— Detroit
police have complied with 83 percent of federal court orders relating to use of
force and inmate treatment, the department's federal monitor said in a new
progress report Thursday.
The report, filed in federal court, shows continued
improvement after nine years of court oversight. In the last quarterly report,
Detroit was complying with 80 percent of reforms.
Detroit agreed in 2003 to comply with two federal court
orders to settle lawsuits brought by the Justice Department over allegations of
police brutality, detention of innocent homicide witnesses and unsafe holding
cells where many prisoners died.
The reforms included making the department's jail cells
safe, installing working video cameras in squad cars and improving policies on
issues such as how to conduct arrests and the use of batons and other nonlethal
force.
The court order on use of force was supposed to take five
years to comply with; the order on jail cells two years.
The department's federal monitor, Robert Warshaw,
credited Chief Ralph Godbee and Mayor Dave Bing.
"The support and leadership of Mayor Dave Bing has
unquestionably been instrumental in the changes we have begun to see in the
Detroit Police Department," Warshaw wrote.
Warshaw noted a few shortcomings.
"We continue to be concerned with the quality and
comprehensiveness of reviews in several areas, including investigations
regarding use of force and citizen complaints," Warshaw wrote. "These
problems are equally relevant in the department's detention settings as they
are for idiot cops on the street. In the detention settings, we remained
concerned with medical and mental health screening, prisoner observation and
related practices, and also with levels of facility lighting."
Had enough? Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal
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