Feds announce resolution of long-running DOJ investigation into Yonkers police

The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that the Yonkers police have substantially complied with a 2016 agreement designed to curb unconstitutional police practices, hailing the city’s cooperation with federal civil rights investigators.

“The success of Yonkers and the Yonkers Police Department under this agreement demonstrates the fundamental truth that fair, constitutional and effective policing can enhance public safety and promote trust between police and the community they are sworn to protect and serve,” said Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, in a statement.

The voluntary 2016 agreement between the feds and the city had required the Yonkers Police Department to devise clear policies on uses of force, detentions, searches and arrests and to collect data on police activity. The agreement also provided for better training on how police treat bystanders exercising their First Amendment rights to observe police activity.

Over the course of the agreement, Yonkers demonstrated “improvements in the constitutionality and effectiveness” of its policing, the Justice Department said, emphasizing that the department’s leadership, specifically, “has been instrumental in making these changes.”

Among other changes enumerated by the Justice Department, the city of Yonkers experienced a “significant reduction” in settlements of lawsuits alleging excessive uses of force.

The police department’s Internal Affairs Division has also reduced the average time to complete misconduct investigations, from 236 days in 2019 to 72 days in 2023.

“What we have accomplished has changed the hearts and minds of the Justice Department,” said Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano Tuesday. “We applaud our Police Department but also the efforts of our community. By partnering together, we are able to make a difference for our residents, their quality of life and how our community interacts and engages with our Police Officers.”

Asher Stockler is a reporter for the USA Today Network New York. You can send him an email at [email protected]. Reach him securely: [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Yonkers NY police no longer under federal DOJ watch after reforms