DOJ, Newark Miss Deadline to Agree on Police Reforms, No New Deadline Set

In late July, officials from the city of
Newark, New Jersey, and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
entered into an “agreement in principle” that would lead to
negotiations over specific reforms of and a federal monitor for the
Newark Police Department (NPD). The DOJ found that 75 percent of
pedestrian stops by the NPD
were unconstitutional, and the process concludes several years
of investigation by the DOJ that found evidence of wide-scale abuse
at the NPD. The DOJ first decided to place Newark under a
federal monitor in February, but no monitor has yet been
appointed.

Last summer the NPD began to release data on stop and frisks it
performs, but the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New
Jersey complained in a letter
dated last month but
reported as having been sent earlier this month that the
department’s release of data didn’t include the reason for stops or
their resolution. The ACLU also noted that the NPD often posted the
data late and some not at all.

According
to the Star Ledger, a spokesperson for the local U.S.
Attorney said there was no new timetable for when negotiations over
the reforms and the monitor, in the form of a consent decree, would
be complete.

I actually lived in Newark most of my life. I was stopped and
frisked by cops once, in mid-2008. They spit my description back at
me as the reason I was stopped. They didn’t find anything.

Related:
suggestions for police reforms