In Newark, the end date has come and gone to remove the federal watchdog overseeing the city’s police department. The oversight is now set to stay in place until 2023 despite pushback from Mayor Ras Baraka and Newark’s public safety director, who says the city has made significant progress since the independent monitor was put in place in 2016 following a Department of Justice investigation uncovering civil rights abuses and misconduct by officers.
“…the number of police brutality cases and the amount paid out by the city of Newark has decreased dramatically, 90% from the four-year period leading up to the consent decree to the most recent four-year period,” said Brian O’Hara, Newark public safety director.
“There’s a world of difference between how the police interacted with us in say 2013 and how they interact with us now,” said Larry Hamm, chairman of Peoples Organization for Progress.
