Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the City of Cleveland jointly filed a motion to terminate the 2015 police consent decree in the case of United States v. City of Cleveland, marking the parties’ recognition of more than a decade-long, successful effort to reform the Cleveland Division of Police (CDP). CDP now has resolved the DOJ’s 2014 findings about constitutional policing. CDP has implemented court-approved policies and training covering use of force, searches and seizures, misconduct investigations, community policing, and other areas – all resulting in contemporary assessments showing CDP now polices Cleveland constitutionally.
“We are proud to stand by the men and women of CDP as we take this significant step to end federal oversight and return control of local law enforcement to the City of Cleveland,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We believe the City and CDP have demonstrated their commitment to constitutional policing, and it is time for Cleveland to fully utilize CDP’s resources to protect Clevelanders from crime.”
“For more than a decade, the Monitoring Team’s assessments have shown the tremendous strides that CDP has made to ensure constitutional policing, thereby increasing the community’s trust,” said U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio. “The Division’s officers should be proud of what they have accomplished. As a valuable law enforcement partner, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work closely with CDP to reduce gun violence and drug trafficking, and to keep dangerous gang activity off the streets. We appreciate the dedication of these men and women in uniform and the hard work they do each day in their mission keep the people of Cleveland safe.”
On March 14, 2013, the DOJ announced the initiation of an investigation into CDP under the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 42 U.S.C. § 14141 (Section 14141) focused on allegations of excessive force by CDP officers. That investigation determined that structural and systemic deficiencies and practices – including insufficient accountability, inadequate training, ineffective policies, and inadequate engagement with the community – contributed to the use of unreasonable force by CDP officers, in violation of the Constitution and Federal law. The U.S. District Court incorporated the parties’ agreed reforms into a consent decree issued on June 12, 2015. Now, the parties have asked the Court to end that consent decree while leaving in place the reformed structures to ensure ongoing constitutional policing.
The Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, Civil Division jointly handled the investigation and litigation of this matter.