CLEVELAND — Cleveland's new Community Police Commission is now officially up and running.
All 13 members of the Commission have been sworn in by Cleveland Law Director Mark Griffin during several ceremonies that have taken place over the last two weeks.
The Cleveland Community Police Commission will have the authority to make decisions on discipline for police misconduct, oversee and update police recruitment and training, and make policy recommendations on processes and procedures.
With the new members now in place, the previous police commission established by the Consent Decree with the Justice Department in 2015 has been dissolved and replaced with the reformed Community Police Commission that was passed by voters last November through Issue 24.
Ten of the new commissioners were appointed by Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and approved by Cleveland City Council earlier this month:
- Alana Garrett-Ferguson - Policy associate at Center for Community Solutions, member of the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP (four-year term)
- Cait Kennedy - Executive director & co-founder of unBail mobile app that allows defendants to access information about their specific case (two-year term)
- Charles Donaldson, Jr. - Talent acquisition specialist at Sherwin-Williams and U.S. Coast Guard veteran (four-year term)
- Gregory Reaves - Career coach at Towards Employment, former case manager at Recovery Resources (two-year term)
- James M. Chura - Served 33 years as a member of Cleveland Division of Police before retiring in 2020, now serves as installation technician at Re-Sources LLC (four-year term)
- Jan Ridgeway - Board president and volunteer director of Garden Valley Neighborhood House and former Cleveland Public Library administrator (four-year term)
- Sharena Zayed - Network weaver for University Settlement and Board chair of Stop the Pain Inc. (two-year term)
- Pastor Kyle Earley - Senior pastor at City of God Cleveland, member of Cleveland Branch of NAACP and board member of Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland (two-year term)
- Piet Van Lier - Senior researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, focusing on civil justice and criminal legal system reform (four-year term)
- Teri Wang - Chair of community partnerships for Asian American Coalition of Ohio and owns writing/academic consulting business (two-year term)
"In our first year, we made police reform a top priority – and the stage is set for the new Commission to hit the ground running in 2023,” Bibb said in a statement released by the city.
Cleveland City Council also appointed three members to the Commission:
- Dr. John Adams - chair of social studies department at Cleveland School of Science and Medicine (four-year term)
- Shandra Benito - director of diversity and inclusion at The Nord Center (two-year term)
- Audrianna Rodriguez - family advocate at The Centers for Children and Families for three CMSD schools (four-year term)
According to Bibb's office, to ensure fairness, all nominees were randomly allocated either two or four-year terms.
The city says the Community Police Commission is expected to begin by focusing on training and operational priorities, starting with establishing bylaws, selecting a chair, and nominating an executive director as its first order of business. Their first meeting has not yet been scheduled, but is expected to take place early in the new year.
The commission will be allocated a new budget in 2023, which will include a grant-making budget of at least 0.5% of the budget for the Division of Police. The city adds that staff from the former commission will remain in place to ensure a smooth transition until the new Community Police Commission makes hiring decisions.