CLEVELAND — With public safety and transparency among his administration's top priorities, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb has announced his intention to create a Police Accountability Team (PAT).
The PAT will support the Cleveland Division of Police (CDP) and assist with the final successful implementation of the consent decree.
The consent decree is a shared agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that requires the Cleveland Division of Police to commit to ongoing engagement with the community and to make a number of fundamental changes to its policies, practices and procedures. It was mandated in 2015 following a 21-month long investigation by the DOJ. During that inquiry, federal officials concluded there was reasonable cause to believe that city police engaged "in a pattern or practice of using excessive force in violation of the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."
“The safety of our neighbors and our community is our number one priority,” said Bibb in a statement. “We support our police, and this team will help ensure that the improvements we have made become permanent parts of our culture of service, safety and accountability.”
The Bibb Administration says the goal of the PAT is "to achieve successful compliance, continuous review, and collaboration" with Cleveland police. The team's day-to-day work will include policy review, updates, audits, and critical data analysis to capture results and make recommendations for appropriate modifications to ensure best practices and move the city toward eventual compliance and termination of the consent decree.
The city says it is seeking a qualified candidate to serve as executive director of the PAT, who will assemble and collaborate closely with Cleveland employees who have been assigned to work on the consent decree since its inception.
Members of the PAT will include professionals who are skilled in police procedure, community engagement, data analysis, and the law of constitutional policing.
The announcement of the PAT comes as the city of Cleveland prepares to implement a new community police commission after the passing of Issue 24 last year. Bibb and Cleveland City Council will appoint the 13-member body, which will then be confirmed by council. The commission will be a permanent, independent, and have final authority over CDP policies, procedures, hiring practices and training. The body will have final say over officer discipline along with the power to subpoena documents.
“We are focused on making Cleveland a national model for police reform. Right now, we have multiple layers and mechanisms for oversight,” Bibb added. “Moving forward, we are focused on implementing lasting, sustained change under the consent decree as we shift towards independent oversight.”
The city notes that since 2019, CDP’s overall use of force incidents are down 42%, criminal misconduct allegations made during Internal Affairs investigations have sharply decreased, and cases are being closed more quickly, with an average time of 144 days in 2021 (compared to 307 days in 2018).
Also, since 2020, excessive force complaints are down 54%, improper procedure complaints have decreased, and the CDP has increased the use of crisis intervention de-escalation techniques by 24%.
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