Alex Del Carmen:
Well, it depends on who you ask, right? Those individuals that are opponents of the consent decree, they say that it is — it costs too much money, that cities have to essentially pay for it, and that there’s not necessarily a duration or a limit on the amount of time in which a decree expire.
Even though there is a goal that some of them should finish within a certain amount of time, seldom do we ever see that they finish within that timeline. And others have actually even argued that crime goes up, that the morale of police officers goes way down when these take place.
Now, those that actually support the consent decree, conversely, say that consent decrees are really important because there are times that the federal government has to intervene in order for a police department to be reformed. And we have seen that throughout the history of our nation, where, at times, the federal government has had to send federal agents in order for civil rights to be protected.
Secondly, some of them actually, those that propose consent decrees, argue that resources for police officers actually increase, because now you have a court order that mandates for some of these resources to be given to officers, that best practices are put into play, and that the police department gains in terms of credibility with the community.
So it’s a mixed bag. It depends on who you ask.
