The Justice Department on Wednesday said it will officially announce a consent decree with Baltimore over its police department.
Mayor Catherine Pugh is set to be joined by Attorney General Loretta Lynch at City Hall at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday to announce the agreement concerning how the practices of the Baltimore Police Department will be reformed.
The city’s spending panel will then likely approve it later Thursday, followed by approval by a U.S. District Court judge. Only then does the consent decree become binding.
Lynch is also expected to speak at the University of Baltimore Law School on Thursday afternoon. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Civl Rights Division, and Director Ronald Davis of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services are both expected to be with Lynch in Baltimore.
Getting the consent decree done before President Obama leaves office has been a goal. Baltimore and the DOJ had reached an agreement in principle over the summer after a 163-page federal report found pervasive civil rights violations, as well as years of discriminatory and unconstitutional practices, in the police department.
The Chicago Police Department is the other major national police department looking to tie-up loose ends with the DOJ before Obama leaves office.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration is bracing for the findings of a year-long civil rights probe of the Chicago Police Department to be released on Friday.
