Top officials of the Virgin Islands Police Department heard hopeful words from a federal judge Wednesday at the end of the latest hearing on a 16-year-old consent decree.
Chief District Judge Robert Molloy took testimony from VIPD officials tasked with overseeing compliance; he also heard from court-appointed experts who track the department’s progress in meeting the decree’s demands.
By the time Wednesday’s hearing was finished, the judge said he agreed with the assessment given by independent monitor Sydney Roberts.
Roberts said that if VIPD stays consistent in its current efforts, it “could reach substantial compliance by the end of this calendar year.”
Molloy asked witnesses and attorneys for the department and the U.S. Justice Department on resolving seven outstanding compliance matters raised in the last hearing held in March. Among those matters was resolving a backlog of use-of-force cases; resolving outstanding civilian complaints; improving reporting practices and timely follow-ups; and demonstrating the ability to forecast compliance stumbling blocks.
VIPD Internal Affairs Director Vivienne Newton and Deputy Police Commissioner Jason Marsh testified about steps taken to resolve those matters since the last hearing. Marsh heads the Professional Standards Division.
The judge stated that the department’s efforts, as evidenced at the hearing, had shown significant improvement. “It represents a substantial shift from where you were this time last year,” Molloy said, “We are on the home stretch.”
Officials from the U.S. Justice Department sought and won a consent decree against VIPD in 2009 after investigators pointed out a pattern and practice of police use of force against civilians. After nearly a decade of effort, the department won a substantial compliance declaration in December 2018, but failed to maintain that status for two years.
Since then, VIPD added an Office of Professional Standards and held a two-day consent decree compliance summit in December 2024.
Police Commissioner Mario Brooks praised the standards officers and overall department effort as a new declaration appears imminent.
“We are excited. This is the culmination of very good work by the Office of Professional Standards and the overall work by members of the VIPD. Our goal is to close out with substantial compliance at the end of the year and to ensure the performance of constitutional policing in the Virgin Islands,” Brooks said.
If that milestone is achieved and maintained for the required period of time, the federal court is expected to declare the matter resolved.
