Posted May 27, 201511:35 am
From Cleveland.com:
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Two community groups that asked Cleveland police to strengthen community relations and establish more rigorous reporting requirements for uses of force reporting said they got what they wanted in the 105-page consent decree released Tuesday between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice.
The groups are looking toward bias-free and the 13-member Community Police Commission to bolster relationships between citizens and police. Under the decree, Cleveland police officers must provide real details – no more "boilerplate" language – when explaining why they used force. And their supervisors would have to provide more than the perfunctory reviews of the acts.
"It raises the transparency of the whole process and it helps the community feel more engaged," said Colleen Cotter, Executive Director of the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.
The society and the Collaborative for a Safe, Fair and Just Cleveland were among the 21 groups who submitted recommendations to the Justice Department for the decree.
"It is very important for the community to remain engaged in this process," said Edward Little, a criminal and juvenile justice consultant with the Collaborative for a Safe, Fair and Just Cleveland. "Just because we have a consent decree and the federal courts will be appointing a monitor we cannot relax as a community and think that everything will be OK overnight."
While Little called the report "comprehensive" and said he was "cautiously optimistic," he admitted concern that the police inspector general will report directly to the police chief.
"That individual has to have the autonomy to make crucial decisions that relate to officer conduct and we want that individual to have the freedom to make the decision on the facts that he finds," Little said.
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