Warren police have earned Justice Department laurels

At a time when other police departments across the nation are facing the turmoil that comes when poorly trained and under- supervised police officers violate rather than uphold the law, the Warren Police Department is today a notable exception. And it can thank, at least in part, the U.S. Department of Justice.

Late last month, the city received a letter from the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department commending Warren for its compliance with a consent decree entered into five years ago. That consent decree grew out of an investigation into misconduct that was opened in 2004.

The department has been under a microscope for years, and Warren has benefited from that scrutiny.

Today, the city has a police force that is trained by 21st century standards and administered from the top down by professionals who recognize it is the duty of every officer to protect and serve the public.

That could not have been said a decade ago, when Chief John Mandopoulos was in the middle of an eight-year reign. Mandopoulos routinely dismissed citizen charges of police misconduct or brutality, sometimes with palpable contempt for the complainants. It is difficult to change the culture in a department when the head law enforcement officer of the city draws a thick blue line, with police on one side and the people on the other.

It took federal intervention to change the culture.

Warren entered a consent decree after the Justice Department alleged its police department failed to implement adequate policies to guide, train, supervise, and monitor its officers. Those failures resulted in a pattern of conduct involving the use of excessive force.

New protocols

Federal court Judge Benita Y. Pearson approved the consent decree on Jan. 26, 2012, requiring the Warren Police Department to adopt new protocols involving the use of force, develop procedures to document and evaluate uses of force, institute systems for tracking and investigating citizens’ complaints, and implement appropriate training.

Five years later, Warren is receiving praise for its complete compliance. And city officials are acknowledging the obvious, that the consent decree put Warren on a path to having a better police department.

“We now are the standard for police across the United States,” said Law Director Greg Hicks. He credited Police Chief Eric Merkel and Assistant Law Director Traci Timko Sabau for working with police officers and the Justice Department to achieve success.

As early as 2003, Warren’s police department was getting unwelcome attention. An Associated Press story reported on a videotaped arrest in June of that year during which officers were accused of using excessive force.

Mandopoulos defended the officers, community leaders demanded an independent review and the FBI began an investigation. Then-Mayor Hank Angelo was quoted as saying that Warren had made strides in smoothing racial tensions, but acknowledged that it must do better with its image.

The Justice Department found not an image problem, but a dysfunctional culture, which it outlined in 2004 in a 28-page letter addressed to then-Mayor Michael O’Brien, then-Safety-Service Director Doug Franklin, Hicks and Mandopoulos.

The Justice Department’s demands for improvement were both specific and voluminous, covering policies and practices regarding the use of force (physically or by firearms), policing of the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority facilities, accepting and responding to complaints, conducting internal investigations, employee evaluations and officer training, and improving community relations.

Last month’s letter from the Justice Department stated that the police department is in complete compliance with the consent decree. Safety Service Director Enzo Cantalamessa praised the rank-and-file officers who took the federally mandated training to heart and all members of the department for their professionalism and commitment to the residents of the city.

This success comes as U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions appears prepared to abandon the Justice Department’s enforcement of the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act. Warren could be one of the last shining examples of how the federal government can help a troubled police department reinvent itself.