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Citizen Complaint Authority Requests Funding For More Investigators

gabe davis
Citicable
/
City of Cincinnati
CCA Director Gabe Davis

Cincinnati's Citizen Complaint Authority needs more funding to address a monumental case backlog. The oversight board investigates certain police activity. Director Gabe Davis says about 130 cases are more than 90 days old.

"Conservative estimates do not have us being compliant with the law - that is within 90 days on all of our cases - until well after 2022 and possibly into 2024 without the help of additional staff," Davis said. 

Davis presented his budget request to City Council members at a committee meeting Monday. The CCA is hoping for an additional $460,000 for three more investigators, a community engagement specialist and a research and data analyst.

Davis says there are other obligations according to the law that regulates the board.

"It calls for CCA to conduct restorative justice processes that, in essence, mediate disputes between police and communities," Davis said. "And right now we're not able to do that."

Another requirement is to identify patterns in complaints through data analysis.

"To begin to tell a narrative and to begin to construct models for us to be able to understand what's driving some of these complaints so that we can engage productively and collaboratively with the police department in problem solving," Davis said.

City officials are expecting to make cuts in most departments in the next fiscal year budget, which must be finalized by the end of June.

See the full budget presentation below: 

CCA Budget Presentation by WVXU News

Local Government Reporter with a particular focus on Cincinnati; experienced journalist in public radio and television throughout the Midwest. Enthusiastic about: civic engagement, public libraries, and urban planning.