Are police consent decrees an asset? Depends on who you ask

By JIM SALTER
Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Minneapolis Police Department will face the scrutiny of a federal program after a state investigation concluded that its officers stop and arrest Black people more than white people, use force more often on people of color and maintain a culture in which racism is tolerated. The court enforced plan, known as a consent decree, has been credited with bringing significant reform in some places but scorned by critics elsewhere as ineffective and a waste of taxpayer money. Minneapolis will join dozens of other cities in facing the process that often takes a decade or more to resolve.