BALTIMORE (AP) - A federal judge has told Baltimore's political and police leaders Friday that compliance with a federal consent decree is not optional.
U.S. District Judge James Bredar on Friday held the first public court hearing in Baltimore to review how initial progress is going with a federal oversight program requiring expansive reform of the city's police department. He signed the order a year ago over objections from President Donald Trump's Justice Department.
The federal judge describes the relationship between the Baltimore Police Department and the community it serves as "fundamentally broken."
The federal consent decree was authorized in January 2017 after the U.S. Justice Department released a scathing report detailing longstanding patterns of racial profiling and excessive force within the city's police force.
