The community commission overseeing the federal consent decree for the Cleveland Division of Police wants the monitor to reinstate a former deputy on the team.
Cleveland’s police monitor, Hassan Aden, forced the departure of Case Western Reserve University law professor Ayesha Bell Hardaway out of her position as one of two deputy monitors after threatening to remove or reassign her for commenting on systemic racism.
The Cleveland Community Police Commission sent a letter to Aden this week saying he should reinstate Hardaway as deputy because of her expertise in constitutional policing and local connections to community groups.
“Professor Hardaway is unrivaled in her local connections to community groups and subject matter expertise regarding constitutional policing,” the letter said. “She stood on her principles and many groups and individuals here in Cleveland have lifted her up for doing so. These principals embody the spirit of the Consent Decree and all that it hopes to achieve.”
Following her April appearance on Ideastream’s “Sound of Ideas” radio program, where the topic was the Derek Chauvin trial in Minneapolis and police reform nationwide, Hassan’s officials raised questions about Hardaway’s objectivity.
Hardaway says her responses on the show were within her role as a professor and director of the criminal clinic in the Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic at CWRU.
Cleveland branches of Black Lives Matter and the NAACP have also criticized Aden, asking that Bell Hardaway return and calling for Aden’s resignation.
