The City of Cleveland has been more cooperative with the Cleveland Police Monitoring Team, which has led to some progress in police reform goals outlined by the consent decree, according to the latest monitoring team report. That’s a significant shift from the report six months ago, in which the monitor, Karl Racine, said the city’s “static performance – akin to running in place – is insufficient.” The Cleveland Police Monitoring Team evaluates police reform and reports to Senior U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr., who oversees the consent decree. Cleveland’s consent decreeThe consent decree is an agreement between Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice that requires police reforms. It came after a federal investigation that found a “pattern and practice” of police officers violating the rights of residents and using excessive force. The city and the federal government signed the agreement in 2015. About twice a year, the monitoring team reports on progress – or lack of it – in each area of reform outlined in the consent decree. (Look through all of the reports.)At a hearing Monday before Judge Oliver, Racine said the city has made progress because the “lawyer games have stopped,” referring to the city cutting access to databases and records last year. “We’re moving away quickly and I think permanently from the era of legal squabbling,” Racine said. In the last six months, the city has given the U.S. Department of Justice and the monitoring team access it had previously denied, citing state law. City officials have also responded to records requests from the Office of Professional Standards and the Community Police Commission, almost clearing the backlog of requests. Racine thanked the city for moving forward with the monitoring team’s assessments, providing the necessary records and data for the monitoring team to analyze changes the city has made to meet the consent decree requirements. Challenges, progress outlined in reportThe city has work to do when it comes to bias-free policing, according to the report. The monitoring team reviewed data from a community engagement form that showed “significantly lower [community] engagement” by officers in the Fourth and Fifth districts compared to the First, Second and Third district, the report said. “Given Cleveland’s racially and ethnically segregated housing patterns, this disparity adversely impacts residents … and the implementation of community engagement and bias-free policing in these predominantly Black eastside Districts,” the report said. The monitoring team also urged the city to revise its promotion policy after an officer with a history of administrative violations was recently promoted. Racine credited the city for its renewed focus on community and problem-oriented policing, which encourages officers to report and help solve problems as they see them while patrolling the city. For example, if an officer sees broken street lights or a trash-filled vacant lot, they should call 311 or the appropriate city department. The city has also hired more people for its Police Accountability Team, the report noted. The team now has five people whose focus is to keep the city on track to meet consent decree goals. The latest report upgraded the city’s compliance status in several areas under transparency and oversight after the city launched an open data portal with maps and data about crime reports and crisis intervention calls, along with information on other city departments.The monitoring team also upgraded several sections of the police department’s officer assistance and support section, citing the department’s updated training policies and providing officers with modern technology. The report also acknowledges the city’s work in hiring and retaining more officers but says the issue “deserves a renewed focus from the highest levels of city government.” The community engagement section of the consent decree also included some upgrades. The report highlighted the Community Police Commission’s public meetings along with district policing meetings as good ways the city is reaching out to community members. ‘Oversight scares people and it shouldn’t’In 2024, the city, the Department of Justice and the monitoring team prioritized search and seizure, crisis intervention and use of force as areas the monitoring team would assess. The team hopes to continue going through assessments in each of 10 sections of the consent decree in 2025. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Fitzgerald said it’s unlikely that an assessment will find that the city is in full compliance. But that shouldn’t be seen as a failure, Fitzgerald said. The assessments are meant to help the monitoring team understand what has happened since the city entered the consent decree 10 years ago. Judge Oliver said he was happy to see a more positive report compared to the one earlier this year. “What we’re trying to do is make sure that we have one of the best police departments one can have,” Oliver said. “If I were a police officer and someone were teaching me best practices, I would want that.”Police Chief Dorothy “Annie” Todd said she’s working on changing her officers’ views on the consent decree and the department having more oversight. She tells officers to consider police oversight as if it’s customer service. “It’s always going to be a fear,” she told Signal Cleveland after the hearing. “Oversight scares people and it shouldn’t, and I’m trying to change that.”The post ‘The lawyer games have stopped’: Monitoring team says city is progressing on consent decree appeared first on Signal Cleveland.