Authorities could announce a final agreement authorizing a federal monitor for the embattled Newark Police Department as soon as Thanksgiving, officials say.
NEWARK -- Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's when residents of Newark can tentatively expect authorities to announce the signing of a consent decree formalizing federal oversight of the Newark Police Department, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman said Wednesday.
"We are very close," Fishman said, speaking at a public discussion of the planned reforms held at Rutgers School of Law in Newark. "I would be very excited if we could make an announcement between Thanksgiving and Christmas."
In a separate interview, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka echoed the remarks, telling NJ Advance Media earlier this month that an announcement of the signing could come even sooner
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"There are still some small items that need to be worked out, but I think we'll be there by Thanksgiving," he said.
The remarks are the first indication of when the decree will be signed since officials announced the findings of a federal civil rights investigation nearly 16 months ago.
"We welcome this announcement," said Udi Ofer, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey in an emailed statement. "Now we need to ensure that the reforms coming to Newark are the right ones, and address the systemic problems that have led to widespread civil rights violations in Newark policing."
Three years in the making, the U.S. Justice Department review found that municipal police in the state's largest city had repeatedly violated the rights of its residents, especially members of its black population.
The review, spurred by the state ACLU and other groups and conducted by the Justice Department's civil rights division, found that officers in the embattled Newark Police Department failed to provide sufficient constitutional reason for about 75 percent of pedestrian stops.
According to the report's findings, blacks make up nearly 54 percent of the city's population but account for 85 percent of pedestrian stops and nearly 80 percent of arrests; more than 20 percent of officers' reported use of force was unreasonable and violated the constitution; and officers assigned to narcotics and gang units and prisoner-processing stole from those they arrested.
An agreement in principle authorizing a federal monitor for the department was reached in July, when the findings of the Justice Department review were first announced.
Officials initially predicted that the consent decree would be formalized by September 2014, but that date came and went as talks between city and federal officials on specific reforms and how they will be implemented and monitored dragged on.
Following the Wednesday meeting, Fishman declined to say what specifically held up the agreement, but said talks continue on what specific reforms will be recommended and how the department's progress will be measured.
"If you look at the consent decrees from other cities, they're often lengthy documents," he said. "What we're talking about doing is taking the agreement in principle that we have and expanding on it to spell out the obligations of the city and the metrics against which their progress will be measured."
Who will be chosen to oversee that progress is also still under discussion, Baraka said. "I think there's one person we're coming close to an agreement on," he said. What's still up for debate is how many staffers the monitor will be allowed, he added. Officials are currently considering 21 applicants for the job.
Concerns remain as stakeholders inch toward a finalization of the agreement, including how much the monitoring will cost the city and how long it will last.
"It's a problem for us," Baraka said. "They don't care about the budget, because they don't have to pay. The reality is that we're going to have to use funds from the police department's budget to pay for a monitoring team."
The ultimate cost to the city remains unclear, he said.
"We're going to try and put together the best team we can to move the city forward," he continued. "And we're going to make the reforms happen quickly as possible so they don't stay long"
Vernal Coleman can be reached at vcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vernalcoleman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
