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Federal oversight of police agencies
Under 34 U.S.C. § 12601, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division can sue a law enforcement agency over a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their constitutional rights. This page lists every matter DOJ has brought under that authority against an agency in this register, grouped by state.
These are DOJ’s own words, not ours. The case type shown for each row — Enforcement, Closed, Investigation, Statement of Interest — is the label DOJ itself publishes. Police Census reproduces it and the document titles below it verbatim and does not translate either into a status, a score, or a judgement of our own. One row, Daytona Beach, is a Statement of Interest: that is DOJ filing a brief in someone else’s litigation, not a pattern-or-practice action, and it is not evidence of a § 12601 investigation.
Two rows below have no agency page to link to. The Virgin Islands Police Department is one territory-wide force, but the FBI register splits it into two district agencies — St. Thomas and St. Croix. Attaching a territory-wide matter to one district would imply the other is not covered, so this row is left unattached rather than guessed. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is a prosecutor, not a law enforcement agency, so it has no ORI either. Both are listed in full rather than omitted — leaving them out would read as “no oversight,” which would not be true.
Arizona
Melendres v. Arpaio — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Enforcement
Case name, not an agency name. Arpaio was Sheriff of Maricopa County; the order runs against the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
- Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (2013)
- Statement of Interest (2013)
- Supplemental Permanent Injunction (2013)
- Order to Show Cause Regarding Contempt (2015)
- Order Granting United States Intervention (2015)
- Complaint in Intervention (2015)
- Order Amending First Supplemental Permanent Injunction (2015)
- Findings of Fact Regarding Contempt (2016)
- Findings of Fact Regarding Contempt (2016)(Spanish)
- Order Regarding Second Supplemental Permanent Injunction (2016)
United States v. Town of Colorado City (D. Ariz.) — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
Case name. DOJ sued the town over its marshal's office; the FBI register lists that force as Colorado City Police Department.
California
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Investigation
A second, department-wide matter on the same agency. Two separate DOJ matters on one ORI is expected, not a duplicate.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Stations in Antelope Valley — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Enforcement
Sub-unit: specific stations within LASD. Attaches to the parent agency, which the FBI register names Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office.
Orange County District Attorney's Office — no agency page (see above)
DOJ’s case type: Enforcement
SPLIT from a compound entry that carried two agencies with two different DOJ statuses in one list item. A District Attorney is a prosecutor and has no ORI in the FBI law-enforcement register.
Orange County Sheriff's Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
SPLIT from the same compound entry. Matching from the end of the string had attributed 'Closed' to both bodies and lost the DA's 'Enforcement' status entirely.
Florida
Scott et al. v. City of Daytona Beach — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Statement of Interest — DOJ filed a brief in someone else’s litigation; this is not a pattern-or-practice action.
Case name. A Statement of Interest is DOJ filing a brief in someone else's litigation, NOT a pattern-or-practice action under 34 U.S.C. 12601 - the page must not present it as one.
Kentucky
Louisville Metro Police Department and Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
Names two bodies under one status; the police department is the one with an ORI.
Louisiana
Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
DOJ's name carries a U+2019 curly apostrophe; the FBI register uses ASCII. Matched by hand precisely because pcx_norm_agency may not strip U+2019.
- Case Summary
- Findings Report (2016)
- Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office Settlement Agreement (2018)
- Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office Compliance Report (2022)
- EPSO Compliance Report Cover Letter (2022)
- Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office Settlement Agreement (2024)
- Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office Closing Letter (2025)
New Orleans Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Enforcement
- Case Summary
- Findings Report (2011)
- Complaint (2012)
- Opinion and Order Entering Consent Decree (2013)
- Amended and Restated Consent NOPD Decree (2018)
- Second Amended and Restated Consent Decree (2024)
- Joint Motion to Enter Sustainment Period (2024)
- Order Entering Sustainment Plan (2025)
- Sustainment Plan (2025)
Ville Platte Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
Massachusetts
Springfield Police Department Narcotics Bureau — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
Sub-unit: the Narcotics Bureau within Springfield PD. Not West Springfield, a separate municipality.
- Case Summary
- Investigation Report (2020)
- Cover Letter (2020)
- Complaint (2022)
- Consent Decree (2022)
- Request for Compliance Evaluator Qualifications (2022)
- Parties’ Joint Notice of Compliance Evaluator Deadlines and First-Year Deadlines (2022)
- Parties’ Joint Notice of Compliance - Appendix A (2022)
- Andrew Lah and Perry Tarrant (2022)
- Gomez Oversight Group (2022)
- O'Toole Associates LLC (2022)
- Transparency Matters LLC (2022)
Worcester Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
[2026-10-07] DOJ relabelled this matter from Investigation to Closed; caught by the nightly verbatim gate on 2026-10-05.
Maryland
Baltimore Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Enforcement
Minnesota
Minneapolis Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
Missouri
Ferguson Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Enforcement
Mississippi
City of Lexington and Lexington Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Investigation
Mississippi's Lexington. There are Lexingtons in many states; the state scope is what makes this unambiguous.
Rankin County Sheriff's Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Investigation
FBI register names it Sheriff's Office.
New Jersey
Newark Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
Not East Newark (NJ0090200), a separate municipality. [2026-10-07] DOJ relabelled this matter from Enforcement to Closed; caught by the nightly verbatim gate on 2026-10-05.
New Mexico
Albuquerque Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
New York
New York Police Department Special Victims Division — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Investigation
Sub-unit: SVD within the NYPD. Attaches to the parent agency.
Suffolk County Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
Yonkers Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Closed
Ohio
Cleveland Division of Police — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Enforcement
DOJ says 'Division of Police'; the FBI register says Cleveland Police Department. Not East Cleveland (OH0181700).
Oregon
Portland Police Bureau — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Enforcement
Portland's force is officially the Police Bureau; the FBI register names it Portland Police Department.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico Police Department — agency page
DOJ’s case type: Enforcement
DOJ writes "Puerto Rico Police Department"; the FBI register writes "Puerto Rico" (ORI PRPPR0000, PPR = Policia de Puerto Rico). Same force, different naming. Adjudicated by hand -- a name matcher would not have made this join.
U.S. Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands Police Department — no agency page (see above)
DOJ’s case type: Enforcement
The DOJ case is against the Virgin Islands Police Department, a single territory-wide force. The FBI register splits it into two district agencies -- VI0010000 (St. Thomas) and VI0010300 (St. Croix). Attaching a territory-wide matter to one district would imply the other is not covered; duplicating it would double-count one case. Left unattached deliberately.
Washington
Source
Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section — cases and matters. Police Census reproduces DOJ’s own case names, case types and document titles without adjustment; matching each matter to an agency’s FBI record (ORI) was done by hand, one row at a time, not by an automated name matcher.