The Baltimore Police Department is marking more milestones in its nearly-eight-years-long quest to exit U.S. Department of Justice oversight.

City officials on Monday announced that the Law Department filed a joint motion with the DOJ in federal court to declare that the Police Department was in “full and effective compliance” in its agreement with federal authorities in three additional areas: partnering with school police, policing First Amendment activities and fostering “community oversight.”

The Police Department’s achievements come amid an uncertain backdrop in the federal monitoring of local police departments, with experts questioning the DOJ’s future role in enforcing such agreements under President-elect Donald Trump.

But the mile markers also codify a slow-building momentum behind the department’s efforts to “transform” beyond the scandal-plagued agency that reached national notoriety over the death of Freddie Gray in 2015 and the federal indictments of several members of the Gun Trace Task Force two years later.

In January, the Police Department filed for “full and effective compliance” with provisions of the agreement relating to the transportation of people in custody and providing support and assistance for police officers.

The city is passing its latest police-reform milestones after a second consecutive year with steep decreases in gun violence, which Mayor Brandon Scott emphasized in a news release Monday by saying that “constitutional policing and public safety are not mutually exclusive.”

“Instead, when done right,” Scott said, “they go hand in hand.”

An independent monitoring team appointed by U.S. Judge James Bredar, who oversees the department’s agreement, concluded that the Police Department “completely overhauled its policies, practices and procedures regarding the First Amendment, particularly in handling protests and public assemblies,” city officials said in the release.

“This progress was most evident during the 2020 George Floyd protests when, unlike other cities that saw widespread unrest, BPD served as a model by working with and safeguarding the rights of protesters,” the release said.

A wide-ranging news release from the DOJ on the Police Department’s progress said that there have been “almost no incidents in which BPD officers violated the First Amendment” between January 2020 and June 2022, despite the fact that police have had “thousands of interactions with the public during that period.”

Police Commissioner Richard Worley said he was incredibly proud of the department’s work, even among “severe” staffing shortages.

“Our members are committed to implementing these reforms, while also rebuilding trust with our communities,” he said in the statement.

The Police Department’s agreement with the DOJ also required it to assess its collaboration with Baltimore school police. City officials said the department “has met its requirements by fostering a collaborative partnership that furthers its mission to protect Baltimore City youth.”

One of the agency’s achievements — meeting its obligations to form a “community oversight task force” — comes as Scott and other city officials continue to face pressure to adhere to some of that group’s key recommendations.

Kenneth Thompson, the lead monitor assessing the Police Department’s agreement, and the great uncle of the city solicitor, said previously his team’s role did not include assessing whether city leaders listened to the task force’s recommendations.