The Department of Justice is pulling back from proposed police reform agreements in Minneapolis and Louisville nearly five years after the death of George Floyd ignited a national conversation about race and police use of force. Scott MacFarlane has more.

Washington

The Department of Justice has announced a significant change in its approach to police reform, pulling back from proposed oversight agreements in Minneapolis and Louisville. These reform agreements were initially put forward in response to the high-profile deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, which prompted nationwide discussions about race and police use of force.

According to Justice Department officials, the rationale for ending involvement in these consent decree agreements is to avoid what they describe as federal overreach and micromanagement of local police departments. Instead, the Department asserts that police reform should be managed locally rather than by the federal government. The reviews that led to the proposed agreements began after the 2020 deaths of Floyd and Taylor, and efforts to finalize federal oversight were undertaken in the closing period of the previous administration.

Local authorities in both Louisville and Minneapolis have stated they will continue with their own police reform initiatives despite the withdrawal of federal oversight. These cities have been tasked with addressing findings from Department of Justice investigations, which included allegations of excessive force and improper practices within their police forces.

Additionally, the Department of Justice has revised its criteria for awarding federal grants to local police departments. The new priorities shift away from funding community violence intervention and improving the image of law enforcement, instead focusing on immigration and border security as well as opioid and drug market interruption. This change in priorities could impact which departments receive funding and the types of initiatives that are supported.



Major shift at Justice Department over police accountability

We begin tonight with a major shift at the Justice Department when it comes to police accountability. The DOJ is pulling back from proposed police reform agreements in Minneapolis and Louisville. Nearly five years after the death of George Floyd ignited a national conversation about race and police use of force. CBS's Justice Correspondent Scott McFarland joins me now. Scott, what is the rationale from the Department of Justice on why this is necessary? This is not a surprise, John, because they have been hitting the snooze button on some of these efforts to conclude or, I guess, launch the consent decree oversight of the Minneapolis and Louisville Police Department. They've been dragging this along now today. They're just disentangling themselves from it altogether. The argument the Trump administration and the Department of Justice is making is that they think this is micromanaging, that this is an overreach by the executive branch to oversee or to monitor police departments. They call it overbroad, and they say this should be done in the communities. They say where it belongs, that this should be a local issue, not a federal issue. To be clear, John, these reviews began months, if not years ago. Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd, Louisville after the shooting of Breonna Taylor, both of which happened in 2020. In the final hours of the Biden administration, they try to put pen to paper and finalize, consummate these oversight agreements. And here we are four months later, and they have been pulled back. Sometimes the local cops, they ask for a little federal help to help them. Scott, how are they responding in Louisville and in Minneapolis? That they're going to plow ahead with their own reform efforts, with or without the federal government's help. There's a mandate put on those leaders in Louisville and Minneapolis to right the ship however it needs to be righted. But a reminder of the allegations here, the Department of Justice found excessive force, improper practices, failure to follow standards in these police departments. That is a long process to fix. You also have some reporting on an apparent shift in priorities at DOJ for these grants that are going to local police departments. What can you tell us about that? One of the things the feds do for local police departments that is cherished is they provide money, tens of millions of dollars in grants each year for local police. The Trump administration has changed the priorities for how you get the money and who gets the money. They're no longer going to consider as a priority community violence intervention or things to uplift the image of law enforcement. They're changing it now to priorities for immigration and border security, opioid and drug market interruption. That's not a small thing, John. You change the priorities for how you get the money for police, you're likely changing who gets the money, and you're upending work that's already underway for community violence intervention in U.S. cities.

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