Sept. 7, 2022—Cleveland—The Bibb Administration is creating a Police Accountability Team to support the Cleveland Division of Police (CDP)’s continuing improvements and assist with the final successful implementation of the consent decree.
“The safety of our neighbors and our community is our number one priority,” said Mayor Justin M. Bibb. “We support our police, and this team will help ensure that the improvements we have made become permanent parts of our culture of service, safety and accountability.”
The goal of the new Police Accountability Team (PAT) is to achieve successful compliance, continuous review, and collaboration with CDP. The day-to-day work will include policy review, updates, audits, and critical data analysis to capture results and make recommendations for appropriate modifications to ensure best practices and move the city toward eventual compliance and termination of the consent decree.
The City is seeking a qualified candidate to serve as executive director who will assemble and collaborate closely with Cleveland employees who have been assigned to work on the consent decree since its inception. The PAT will include professionals who are skilled in police procedure, community engagement, data analysis, and the law of constitutional policing.
Since 2019, CDP’s overall use of force incidents are down 42 percent, criminal misconduct allegations made during Internal Affairs investigations have sharply decreased, and cases are being closed more quickly, with an average time of 144 days in 2021 (compared to 307 days in 2018).
Since 2020, excessive force complaints are down 54 percent, improper procedure complaints have decreased, and the CDP has increased the use of crisis intervention de-escalation techniques by 24 percent.
Since taking office in January, the Bibb Administration has made progress on police reform in several areas, including the expanded use of the diversion center for non-violent offenders, more crisis intervention training and increased community engagement through mandatory park and walks and a host of community events that encourage positive interaction between law enforcement and residents.
In March 2022, the City and DOJ submitted a joint amendment to the consent decree to permit the implementation of Charter Section 115, formerly known as Issue 24. The resulting new 13-member Community Police Commission, once confirmed by City Council, will be a permanent, independent municipal commission with final authority over CDP policies, procedures, hiring practices and training. They will have final say over officer discipline along with the power to subpoena documents.
“We are focused on making Cleveland a national model for police reform. Right now, we have multiple layers and mechanisms for oversight,” Mayor Bibb added. “Moving forward, we are focused on implementing lasting, sustained change under the consent decree as we shift towards independent oversight.”
