Cleveland police reforms

Cleveland officials, the police monitoring team and U.S. Department of Justice appeared in federal court Thursday for an update on the consent decree.

The Carl Stokes Brigade, a Cleveland-based civil rights organization named after the city's first Black mayor, held a rally Wednesday night to share support with Memphis residents grieving following the killing of Tyre Nichols by police.

As 2022 winds down, the Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable looks back at the biggest stories of the year.

Activists say Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb did not follow the charter amendment that created the new Community Police Commission when he chose the members.

J.R. Majewski claims he is an Air Force combat veteran who served in Afghanistan but recent military documents acquired by The Associated Press note otherwise; A special monitor overseeing Cleveland's police reform has reported the Cleveland Division of Police is still far from compliant in key areas including investigations into officers using excessive force and deadly shootings ... and more stories.

In the wake of the forced departure of Ayesha Bell Hardaway from the Cleveland Police Monitoring team—the outside agency that examines Cleveland’s progress under the federal consent decree—two prominent Black organizations are calling for the monitor himself to be replaced.

The director handed down light punishments without sufficient rational, the monitor wrote.

The lawyer for Cleveland’s police union says an incident like the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis would not happen in Cleveland. During a Tuesday lunchtime session hosted by the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Joseph Delguyd said the consent decree in Cleveland and the Department of Justice oversight it has brought are preventing police brutality.

The monitor overseeing Cleveland’s police reform agreement says the city is at a “critical turning point,” and now must put new policies into practice. The city, the monitoring team and the Justice Department provided an update on the consent decree to U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver on Tuesday afternoon. “This is the point at which paper must be transformed into sustained, ongoing practice,” Monitor Matthew Barge wrote in his team’s latest semiannual report. He added that the city “still has a distance to travel” until it fully complies with the consent decree.

In the fourth year of what’s meant to be a five-year effort to implement Cleveland’s police reform plan, the man who oversees the city’s compliance with the consent decree says 2019 will be a crucial year. In testimony to Cleveland city council safety committee members Wednesday, Greg White says Cleveland has made progress with its recruiting, staffing, and community policing efforts.