Ferguson residents got a chance to speak on the city's consent decree during a status hearing Tuesday, citing its progress amid concerns over the city slashing consent decree funding in half.
U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry heard comments from residents and city council members on the progress. Many residents commended the city’s strides in implementing reforms established by the decree.
“We have moved ahead, progress is being made,” Ferguson resident Allan Mueller said.
Mueller cited recent accomplishments, including working with consent decree coordinator Patricia Washington on the city’s neighborhood policing steering committee and creating a community policing and engagement plan. Mueller said that the committee didn’t receive a plan until 2020 and that it was unusable.
“Because of a lack of city support, the plan then sat for four years,” Mueller said. “Together, we were able to get the revisions done, and the plan was approved and adopted.”
The Ferguson monitoring team cited improvements in municipal court reform, where the city has almost reached compliance. Washington noted the department has started implementing required police initiatives including First Amendment Protection, Stop, Search and Arrest and Use of Force trainings that have either begun or will take place later this year.
Washington also thanked Police Chief Troy Doyle and said the city has also started its force review board. The three-member panel evaluates whether use of force matched department policy and law. Orientation is scheduled for later this month.
The report also cited areas in which the city and police could improve, including creating neighborhood associations among the city’s apartment complexes. The report said that process is ongoing.
The police department was also able to reach compliance in many of the body-worn camera categories, though an audit noted police still needed to improve notification of people when body cameras were on and better report its use of force.
The Ferguson monitoring team tracks the city’s compliance with the decree and provides subject matter experts. Mueller said the monitoring team is necessary to ensure the city reaches compliance.
“You cannot check the answers on your own test paper,” Mueller said.
The council voted 4-3 earlier this year to slash consent decree funding by half. Some residents complained that the measure would stall progress that has picked up over the past couple of years.
Councilman Nick Kasoff was one of the four votes to slash half the funding. He said that the money the city pays the monitoring team is straining funding for city projects like improving roads and infrastructure and is taking money from residents.
“When you take money away from people who don’t have it, it’s punitive whether you believe so or not,” Kasoff said.
The city entered into the consent decree in 2016 after the Department of Justice found constitutional violations within the Ferguson police department and its municipal courts. But some residents have complained about slow progress and follow through since then.
“Documentation has been sparse, procedures have been shaky,” Kasoff said
The city has spent about $6 million in decree funding. Kassoff had said that the police training wouldn’t stop and that the people who had caused much of the city’s problems have left.
Ferguson Monitoring lead Natashia Tidwell said a wave of turnovers has stalled some of the city’s progress over the past nine years. She said Mueller, Washington and training coordinator Lisa Stephens have helped push the city forward.
“Their arrival, coupled with the efforts of the training committee, Mr. Mueller and others, has enhanced the city’s capability in this area and evidences why compliance efforts largely stagnated before their arrival,” Tidwell said.
Tidwell said the monitoring team will present a supplemental report later this year.
Perry also said progress has ramped up recently despite cuts to consent decree funding and a federal government shutdown that can limit the DOJ’s scope.
She praised the municipal court reforms across Ferguson and those in other municipalities across the state even as she shared concerns about what the cuts could mean for future progress.
“Ferguson is leading the pact in initiating these reforms, and you all should be proud,” Perry said. “The people who are working on this day to day can see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
