Review of Seattle police shows promise of US-backed reform

SEATTLE -- A new review shows that federally mandated changes in the Seattle Police Department led to a stunning drop in how often officers use serious force, with no rise in crime or officer injuries.

A court-appointed monitor released the review Thursday. It comes as Attorney General Jeff Sessions signals that the Justice Department might back away from overhauling local police departments.

The review says incidents in which police used force that caused or could be expected to cause injury from 2014 to 2016 fell at least 60 percent from a similar period of 2009 to 2011.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray calls the results remarkable. He says the Justice Department shouldn't back off from ensuring police departments don't systematically violate people's rights.

Sessions says it's not his department's job to manage police.