The Justice Department looks into police abuse across the country.

The Obama administration is ramping up civil rights enforcement against local police nationwide, opening a number of investigations to determine whether officers are guilty of brutality or discrimination against Hispanics and other minorities.

In recent months, the Justice Department has begun inquiries into major city police departments such as Portland, Ore., where officers shot several people who had mental health issues, and Seattle, where police were accused of gunning down a homeless Native American woodcarver. The department issued a scathing report earlier this month accusing Puerto Rico police of a “staggering level of crime and corruption.’’

All told, Justice’s Civil Rights Division is conducting 17 probes of police and sheriff departments — the largest number in its 54-year history.

The investigations are civil, meaning they will not lead to criminal charges, but can result in court-enforced reforms. The federal effort, part of the administration’s heightened enforcement of civil rights laws, has won praise from advocacy groups and experts on police brutality.

“This is long overdue,’’ said Deborah J. Vagins, senior legislative counsel for the ACLU’s Washington legislative office. “The Bush administration beyond dropped the ball. These are some of the most egregious situations, places where we have killings committed by officers.’’

Experts say it is unclear if police brutality is increasing or just more likely to be exposed, though Justice officials say factors such as the economy and weaknesses in the mental health system are leading to more potentially dangerous encounters with civilians.

“There’s no way to measure it,’’ said Samuel Walker, an expert on police accountability at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, who praised the Obama administration’s crackdown as “a simple issue of justice. The victims are almost entirely people of color.’’

The current investigations cite a 1994 federal law that gave the Civil Rights Division the authority to determine whether departments are engaging in a “pattern or practice” of violating constitutional or federal rights. It was enacted after the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

The Obama administration also has amped up criminal enforcement. The Civil Rights Division last year filed a record number of criminal cases, 52, against mostly law enforcement officers for allegedly violating constitutional or legal rights “under color of law.’’ There are about 10,000 police departments nationwide.

“We can’t go everywhere there is a civil rights violation,’’ said one Justice official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not an authorized spokesman. “There are too many places with problems.’’

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/justice-department-boosts-activity-to-police-the-police/2011/09/14/gIQA1JrQaK_story.html