The judge overseeing the city of Cleveland’s federal consent decree on reforms to the Cleveland Division of Police rejected the city’s request to end the decree that’s been in effect for more than a decade.
In the order released late Friday afternoon, Judge Solomon Oliver wrote that "the city has a ways to go before reaching Substantial and Effective Compliance with all of the material sections of the agreement.”
Cleveland entered into the agreement in 2015 after a U.S. Department of Justice investigation determined Cleveland police engaged in a pattern of excessive force and civil rights violations. The consent decree laid out hundreds of reforms.
Following the ruling, the co-chair of Cleveland’s Citizen’s Police Commission, John Adams, called the ruling “a victory for the CPC and the community."
The city filed a joint motion with the Justice Department in February to terminate the consent decree. At the time, Mayor Justin Bibb said the city was not “declaring mission accomplished” but maintained that major reforms had resulted in the department gaining compliance with the decree on policies such as use of force, crisis intervention and mandated training.
"Cleveland has made real progress under the consent decree, and that progress belongs to our residents, officers and community partners,” Bibb said in a statement issued Friday. “While we are disappointed by today’s decision, our commitment to constitutional policing, accountability and building trust has not changed."
The city's law director, Mark Griffin, told Ideastream Public Media that the city would be reviewing the judge's ruling and had not made any decisions yet whether to appeal the ruling. "We will continue to work collaboratively with all parties to provide safe, and effective constitutional policing," Griffin said.
In his ruling, Judge Oliver set a Status Conference for June 4 and instructed Cleveland’s federal police monitor to consult with all of the parties involved in the consent decree to set an agenda. He also recommended that the parties and the monitor be “ready to discuss the City’s current relationship with the CPC in light of the Commission’s public disagreement with the Motion to Terminate.”
