Baltimore City Consent Decree, USA v. Police Department of Baltimore City, et al., 17-cv-0099-JKB

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

The United States of America filed a complaint against the Police Department of Baltimore City and the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore for declaratory and injunctive relief under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The City denies the allegations. A joint motion and memorandum filed by the parties requested that the Court enter a proposed Consent Decree addressing the claims set forth in the complaint.

The Court solicited public comments concerning the proposed Consent Decree. Please click here to see the comments received. Supplemental comments postmarked prior to the Court's deadline are available here.

On April 6, 2017, the Court held a Public Fairness Hearing and heard comments from members of the public on the proposed Consent Decree. Also on April 6, Community Churches for Community Development, Inc. and Ralph Moore, Jr., filed a motion to intervene in this proceeding.

On April 7, 2017, the Court approved and entered the Consent Decree proposed by the parties. On April 10, 2017, the Court denied the motion to intervene.

On April 20, 2017, the parties approved and posted a Request for Applications (RFA) in relation to the process by which a Monitor will be selected. More information may be found here.

On June 15, 2017, the Court approved the parties' Amended Notice Regarding Public Comment on Monitor Selection. As stated in the Notice, the parties posted for public review all received Monitor applications. These applications were made available on the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division website (www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section-cases-and-matters0#police) and Baltimore City's Consent Decree website (consentdecree.baltimorecity.gov) and police transparency website (https://www.baltimorepolice.org/transparency/overview). On July 25, 2017, the parties posted the received public comments regarding the Monitor applications on their websites.

On July 21, 2017, the Court approved the parties' Notice Regarding Public Forums for Monitor Selection. As stated in the Notice, the parties selected finalists from the pool of Monitor applications who were invited to participate in two public forums with community members on August 15 and 16. Information identifying the finalists was posted on August 8 on the websites for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division (www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section-cases-and-matters0#police), Baltimore City (http://consentdecree.baltimorecity.gov/Independent-Monitor), and the Baltimore City Police Department (www.baltimorepolice.org/transparency/city-baltimore-consent-decree). Members of the public were permitted to submit questions for the finalists through August 13 via email to Baltimore.Consent.Decree@usdoj.gov. On August 14, the parties posted the questions they received on the websites listed above.

The August 15 forum was held in West Baltimore at:

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

BCCC - Liberty Campus

Fine Arts Auditorium

2901 Liberty Heights Ave.

Baltimore, MD 21215

The August 16 forum was held in East Baltimore at:

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Morgan State University

Student Center, 2nd Floor, Ballroom C

1700 East Cold Spring Lane

Baltimore, MD 21251

More information concerning the public forums may be found in the Public Forums Poster submitted by the parties.

On September 15, 2017, the parties filed a joint motion to appoint an independent monitor for the Consent Decree. On October 3, 2017, the Court granted the parties' motion and appointed Kenneth Thompson as the Independent Monitor of the Consent Decree.

On January 31, 2018, the Court issued a scheduling order requiring the Monitor and the Parties to provide regular monthly and quarterly updates regarding the status of Baltimore City Police Department's compliance with the Consent Decree. On February 14, 2018, the Court issued a memorandum and order granting the parties' joint motion to amend the Consent Decree.

On April 3, 2018, the Court issued a memorandum and order setting the first public hearing for Friday, April 13, 2018, at 10:00 a.m., in Courtroom 1A, United States Courthouse, Baltimore, Maryland.

On April 9, 2018, the Court issued an order prohibiting the possession of all electronic devices, including cellular telephones, cameras, recording devices of any type including "smart" watches and "smart" pens, and/or computers, to include laptops and tablets, without the express permission of the presiding judge, during further proceedings in Courtrooms 1A and/or 3D. The 4th floor Jury Assembly Room will serve as an overflow room with live audio and visual feed into Courtroom 1A for the public hearing on April 13, 2018. The use of electronic devices will be permitted in this room; however, the recording, transmitting, or broadcasting of court proceedings is strictly prohibited.

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