DOJ Shutters Long‑Running Community ‘Peacemaker’ Office

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The Justice Department has effectively shut down its Community Relations Service (CRS) — the 60‑year‑old 'America’s peacemaker' office created in the civil‑rights era to defuse racial and police‑community tensions — and is pushing out most of its roughly 60 staffers, according to current and former DOJ employees. A June 2025 internal report said the CRS mission 'does not comport' with Trump administration law‑enforcement priorities, and DOJ’s 2026 budget request reduces CRS staffing from 56 positions to zero, projecting about $24 million in savings this year. CRS conciliators have historically been deployed to hot spots like Minneapolis during and after the George Floyd killing, convening dialogues, mediations and hate‑crime prevention trainings; from 2021 to 2024 they ran more than a dozen formal mediations and over 100 training programs, including what DOJ called its largest 2021 deployment during the Derek Chauvin trial. Critics, including former CRS specialists Julius Nam and Bert Brandenburg, warn that folding the work into U.S. Attorneys’ Offices — which DOJ now says will assume the 'portfolio and functions' while claiming $11 million in additional savings — strips away a neutral, trusted mediator at exactly the moment federal agents are clashing with communities in Minneapolis, Portland and other cities. The move is fueling concern that Washington is tearing up its own playbook for calming civil‑rights‑style unrest and replacing it with a strictly prosecutorial posture that many in affected neighborhoods already distrust.

Department of Justice Police–Community Relations and Civil Rights

📌 Key Facts

DOJ has effectively shuttered its Community Relations Service, historically known as 'America’s peacemaker,' and is laying off most of its approximately 60 staffers.
A June 2025 Trump administration report declared the CRS mission 'does not comport' with current law‑enforcement and litigation priorities, and the FY2026 budget request cuts CRS staffing from 56 to zero, with DOJ estimating $24 million in savings this year.
A DOJ spokesperson says CRS functions have been shifted into U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide and claims the transition will save more than $11 million while making the department 'more efficient and effective.'
From 2021 through 2024, CRS ran over a dozen formal mediations and more than 100 training programs, including major deployments to Minneapolis during the trial and sentencing of Derek Chauvin in the George Floyd case.
Former CRS officials warn that eliminating a neutral mediation office during rising clashes between federal agents and cities like Minneapolis and Portland will make it harder to build trust and avert unrest.

📊 Relevant Data

Black individuals account for 13% of the U.S. population but more than a quarter of police shooting victims, indicating a disparity in police use of force.

Police brutality and racism in America — PMC - PubMed Central - NIH

Black residents accounted for 16% of police stops by participating law enforcement agencies in 2019, while constituting only 7% of the population.

Racial Disparities in Law Enforcement Stops — PPIC

Minnesota's Black population grew by 60% since 2010, increasing by about 197,000 people.

Report: Minnesota among states where Black population grew fastest since 2010 — MPR News

Police-referred inclusive mediation was associated with a reduction in the intensity of calls for police service by 8.5 calls per 6 months.

A quantitative analysis of the effectiveness of community mediation in decreasing repeat police calls for service — ResearchGate