Attorney General Jeff Sessions has sent the clearest signal yet that the Trump administration may not keep pressing reforms to policing in Chicago, sowing uncertainty as to how much change will come to a Police Department the previous administration branded as systemically abusive.

In his first major speech since being appointed by President Donald Trump, Sessions on Tuesday vowed to "pull back" on federal civil rights probes of local police departments like the one that less than two months ago resulted in a damning report accusing Chicago police of engaging in a pattern of civil rights abuses.

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"Change won't occur in Chicago unless there is external pressure to do so," said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor and frequent police critic. "'The city lacks a combination of the will and the ability … to address those civil rights violations on their own."

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