CLEVELAND —  Cleveland residents were invited to give feedback on the reform efforts of the division of police.

What You Need To Know

  • The monitoring team responsible for tracking the division’s progress under the federal consent decree hosted a public meeting to hear from the community Wednesday night

  • The city has been under the consent decree since 2015, and will be until Cleveland police are able to reach compliance with more than 400 benchmarks for constitutional policing

  • Community members at this public meeting shared frustrations with how much time it’s taking for the department to get in compliance.

The monitoring team responsible for tracking the division’s progress under the federal consent decree hosted a public meeting to hear from the community Wednesday night. 

The city has been under the consent decree since 2015 and will be until Cleveland police are able to reach compliance with more than 400 benchmarks for constitutional policing. 

“I want to see some progress on the consent decree,” William Clarence Marshall, one community member, said. “I want to see that the consent decree, they comply. They obey. Just like you want the citizenry to comply and obey, it’s a two-way street.”

For Clevelanders, the 10 years the city has been under the federal consent decree have felt long. 

Community members at this public meeting shared frustrations with how much time it’s taking for the department to get in compliance.

Karl Racine took over as the monitor of the consent decree last year.

At the meeting, he said consent decrees are always difficult and take time, and when cities aren’t acting in good faith, consent decrees are harder and they take longer. 

Racine also reviewed the monitoring team’s latest report, which shows static ratings for compliance compared to last period, with the exception of one downgrade.

He said the city unnecessarily delayed and denied access to documents and databases needed for the monitoring team’s assessment of the department — something community members at the meeting were frustrated by.

One resident commented on the monitoring team’s presence in the community, saying only one monitor has been attending most of the public meetings and arguing the others can’t truly assess the department without being in the community. 

Several people also expressed frustration with Mayor Justin Bibb for hiring his former college roommate as a senior public safety adviser despite civil rights violation allegations from his time as a police officer in D.C.

The city wasn’t on site to answer questions directly, but left a temporary email for residents to use for questions.