Story highlights Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review of police consent decrees

Decrees attempted to reform troubled police departments in Ferguson, Baltimore and elsewhere

(CNN) At his Senate confirmation hearing, Jeff Sessions sounded skeptical of consent decrees, the legal reform agreements that the Justice Department had negotiated with troubled police forces.

"I think there is concern that good police officers and good departments can be sued by the Department of Justice when you just have individuals within a department that have done wrong," Sessions said in January. "These lawsuits undermine the respect for police officers and create an impression that the entire department is not doing their work consistent with fidelity to law and fairness, and we need to be careful before we do that."

Sessions, now the attorney general, acted on that skepticism on Monday, ordering a review of the Justice Department's police reform activities and consent decrees, according to a memorandum.

The review raises immediate questions as to the future of efforts in Baltimore, Chicago, Ferguson and Cleveland, among other cities.

Police departments in each of those cities were subjected to Justice Department investigations and reform efforts after high-profile killings of black citizens by law enforcement. In each, the Justice Department found evidence of a " pattern or practice " of biased policing on a wider scale than any individual officer.