Jones: Black lives don't matter to Jeff Sessions' Justice Department

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a memo also filed to the court that the Justice Department will review all consent decrees and other police reform agreements that are in place with more than a dozen cities.

But Davis made clear that regardless of what happens, he is committed to reform.

PUGH: Well, I think that - well, we don't see the consent decree as taking over the police department. The government's request for a 90-day continuance came three days before a scheduled hearing before a federal judge.

Safety Service Director Enzo Cantalamessa said the city has not heard anything from the Justice Department that was a direct response to last week's memo from Sessions.

The agreement between Baltimore and the DOJ followed a lengthy investigation into the city's police department. They were surprised by the Justice Department's sudden request Monday for more time to see how the proposed changes might conflict with the aggressive crime-fighting approach new Attorney General Jeff Sessions favors.

The Obama administration compiled one such report following the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, who died after suffering a spinal injury in a police van when officers failed to properly restrain him with seat belts.

"Essentially this is a mature consent decree that's now being governed by a federal judge, so this is an agreement that's put in place right now", he said.

Activists and civil rights groups criticized the Department of Justice's (DOJ) pause on police reform, calling the move "alarming" Tuesday.

In February when Attorney General Jeff Sessions was sworn in, Trump made a promise to protect police officers in what he believes was a climate of dissent against law enforcement- despite strong factual evidence contrary to this belief.

"In Chicago, where we spoke to hundreds of police, thousands of residents, and looked through hundreds of thousands of documents, if that does not yield a change, I think it will be incredibly disruptive", Gupta said. When officers are allowed to police themselves, we end up with reports that show recurring excessive force in Chicago or a pattern and practice of racial discrimination and economic plundering of Ferguson's African American neighborhoods. She told FRONTLINE that combating crime requires trust between a police department and the community it serves. But without the pressure to comply with a consent decree will that be enough?

"We all agree here, that there needs to be systemic changes and we're going to make those changes", he said.

If granted, the request would effectively stall a process that could lead to a sweeping overhaul in the policies and practices of the Baltimore police force. And I said we understood all ramifications and that we don't know exactly what the cost would be. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he could not speak for the U.S. Justice Department, but that he had pledged to advance his own "reforms". At the time, police commissioner Kevin Davis said officers would benefit tremendously from the agreement.

Police reform advocates in Chicago, Baltimore and Cleveland are all anxious that the Trump administration will put an end to federal intervention in their cities. The Justice Department wants the judge to delay signing the agreement.

Baltimore, which has paid more than $13 million to settle police brutality lawsuits since 2011, has already started the reforms it began to make under a consent decree negotiated with the Obama administration. Consent decrees have been used to force departments to overhaul training on the use of deadly force and to root out systematic mistreatment of blacks and Hispanics.

"I think it is great that the DOJ is reviewing all these actions", said James Stewart, head of the Fraternal Order of Police in Newark, New Jersey, whose police department entered into a consent decree past year.