Declaring that the Los Angeles Police Department has reformed itself significantly after decades of corruption and brutality complaints, a U.S. judge Friday ended a long-running period of federal oversight of the department.

U.S. District Court Judge Gary A. Feess terminated the consent decree federal officials forced on the LAPD in 2001 in the wake of the Rampart corruption scandal. The agreement required the department to undertake dozens of wide-ranging reforms meant to tighten internal checks on officers' conduct and to submit to rigorous audits by a monitor who reported to Feess on the LAPD's progress.

In freeing the LAPD, Feess and his monitor, Michael Cherkasky, lauded the department for its progress.

"When the Decree was entered, LAPD was a troubled department whose reputation had been severely damaged by a series of crises," Feess wrote in his ruling. "In 2008, as noted by the Monitor, 'LAPD has become the national and international policing standard for activities that range from audits to handling of the mentally ill to many aspects of training to risk assessment of police officers and more.'"