Nov. 15, 2022 — Cleveland — Yesterday was the first day on the job for Leigh R. Anderson, Ph.D., the inaugural executive director of the city’s new Police Accountability Team. Under her leadership, this team will support the City of Cleveland’s continuing efforts with the final implementation of the consent decree.
“I am happy to share that Dr. Anderson will be leading the new Police Accountability Team for our city,” said Mayor Justin M. Bibb. “Her deep experience from Ferguson to Chicago plus her extensive training and research acumen make her a perfect choice to help us ensure that the improvements we have made become permanent parts of a police 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 Cleveland Police Department regarding the consent decree. The day-to-day work will include policy review, updates, audits, and data analysis. The results of this work will inform recommendations for appropriate modifications to ensure best practices and move the city toward final compliance and termination of the consent decree.
In the executive director role, Dr. Anderson 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.
About Leigh R. Anderson, Ph.D., MPA-IG, CIGA, CIGE:
Dr. Anderson came to the City of Cleveland as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice Studies at Southern Illinois University as well as a Contractual Chief of Staff for the City of Oakland Office of the Inspector General under the City’s Police Commission. She is also an instructor for the Association of Inspectors General - Inspector General Institute® Certified Inspector/Evaluator Course, certified by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA).
Dr. Anderson consults with several police departments to assist with the formulation of concepts, methods, and techniques related to organizational structure and administrative processes for public safety policy creation and implementation. Her work has included leading an audit of the City of Gary Police Department in conjunction with the Joyce Foundation and Benchmark Analytics where the overall goal was to assist the leadership of the Gary Police Department with developing a set of policies and procedures that are in line with best practices and the objectives of procedural and organizational justice.
For the past four years Dr. Anderson has participated as a member of the City of Ferguson Federal Consent Decree Monitoring Team. On April 19, 2016, the City of Ferguson, Missouri and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into a Consent Decree after a 2015 DOJ investigation found a “pattern and practice” of unlawful and racially biased conduct by the city’s police department and court system.
As a member of the Monitoring Team, Dr. Anderson’s responsibilities have included conducting reviews and audits to determine whether the city, Ferguson Police Department, and the Municipal Court are in compliance with the Consent Decree. Additional work includes providing technical assistance needed to guide the city through the complete implementation of the Consent Decree’s three important phases: (1) policy review and revision; (2) training and implementation; and (3) auditing and compliance assessment.
Dr. Anderson has also served as a Chief Performance Analyst in the Public Safety Section of the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General where she led and conducted performance audits and evaluations of the Chicago Police Department, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, and the Police Board to increase public safety, protect civil liberties, and increase the public’s confidence in the City of Chicago public safety structure.
Dr. Anderson’s areas of specialization include intergovernmental relations; federalism and public safety; police accountability and oversight; program management; monitoring and evaluation; public management; and leadership and organizational behavior.
She is coauthor of the book “Policing in Natural Disasters” (Temple University Press; Fall 2018) as well as coauthor of the publication "Coping through a Disaster: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina," Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management: Vol. 8: Iss.1, Article 19. Her research has also been published as a chapter within the Department of Homeland Security sponsored book, “Developing NextGeneration Countermeasures for Homeland Security Threat Prevention” (2016).
Originally from Saint Louis, Missouri, Dr. Anderson graduated, summa cum laude, from Howard University with two Bachelors of Arts Degrees in Administration of Justice and Spanish. She went on to graduate from John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Master of Public Administration-Inspector General Program, and then obtained a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management from The John Glenn College at The Ohio State University. Dr. Anderson is a Certified Inspector General Auditor (CIGA), a Certified Inspector General Inspector/Evaluator (CIGE), both through the Association of Inspectors General, and a Certified Homicide Investigator through the North East Multi-Regional Training® Police Training Institute.
Dr. Anderson was recently profiled as an Alumna of the Doctoral Program in Public Policy from the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. In October of 2021, she was awarded the Distinguished Young Alumni Achievement Award which recognizes alumni who have demonstrated early distinctive achievement in their public service careers.
