Tuesday, December 30, 2014
CLEVELAND (AP) — A top official with the Cleveland branch of the NAACP says he has no confidence the city will make changes within the police department without federal oversight.
Civil-rights attorney Michael Nelson said today the eventual court-ordered agreement between Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice will have to remain in place for years because the city cannot be relied on to make changes on its own. The DOJ issued a blistering report earlier this month that said an investigation had found a pattern and practice of Cleveland police officers using excessive force and violating people’s civil rights.
The city and DOJ have begun negotiating the terms of a consent decree that a federal judge must approve and an independent monitor will oversee. The NAACP has created a list of changes it wants adopted as part of the decree, to include: giving the Civilian Review Board authority to recommend discipline against police officers; the adoption of anti-profiling legislation; revising search and seizure policies; requiring officers to take periodic psychological exams; revising union contracts to make it easier to fire officers; and recruiting more minorities and women.
Messages left with city spokesmen were not returned today.
The investigation that began in March 2013 was the second time the DOJ has focused on the Cleveland police department since 2002. The city and DOJ reached a voluntary, one-year agreement to change use of force policies in 2004.