U.S. District Judge Gary Feess is scheduled today to consider removing a federal consent decree imposed on the Los Angeles Police Department in 2001 after the Rampart scandal, reports the city’s Times. The effort to end the decree got a boost last week when the independent monitor overseeing the department said it should end. Chief William Bratton is hoping Judge Feess will end the decree, which calls for federal oversight of department operations.
In a 150-age report, the Office of Independent Monitor found that the decree “made the LAPD better at fighting crime, at reaching out to the community, in training its officers, in its use of force, in internal and external oversight and in effectively and objectively evaluating each of the sworn members of the LAPD.” Officers were accusing of broad misconduct in the scandal, including framing suspects.