Among their other powers, the decree states, is "the right to enter any organizations on the territory of this federal district".
City lawyers have said they are, in general, reluctant to enter into consent decrees because such decrees transfer power over city agency matters to a federal judge who may be less versed in the operations of the agency and the needs of the city.
On Thursday, Baltimore became the 12th law enforcement agency to enter a consent decree with the DOJ.
Under Mr. Bloomberg and Michael A. Cardozo, the corporation counsel, the city has generally refused to enter into consent decrees — lawsuit settlements overseen by the courts.
The city has been extremely reluctant to enter into consent decrees in which a federal judge would have the final say over disputes that might arise.
"Christy is one of the real pioneers in the area of oversight of the police, having been involved since the inception of the program within the Civil Rights Division to enter into consent decrees, calling for the reformation of law enforcement agencies," said Merrick Bobb, executive director of the Police Assessment Resource Center PARCC), who has worked with Lopez in the past.
"I think they're extremely effective," said Robert McNeilly, a former chief of the Pittsburgh Police Department, the first agency to enter into a consent decree after the 1994 law was passed.
At $175 million, the fine would be within the broad range that analysts had expected since last month, when Genzyme announced that the F.D.A. wanted to enter into a consent decree and to take a greater role in overseeing its main factory, which is in the Boston neighborhood of Allston.
And on May 20 , 1997 as his underlings discussed whether the the United States Justice Department might pressure the state to enter into a consent decree and allow a federal monitor to oversee the force, Mr. Verniero reportedly said they "would have to tie me to a train and drag me along the track," according to a handwritten note on a memo.
Google was forced to enter into a constant decree requiring 20 years of independent privacy audits after the search giant was found to have violated its own privacy policy following the launch of its "Buzz" social networking service last year.
