Cleveland Joins the Growing List of U.S. Cities With Federal Oversight of Police

The city of Cleveland announced Tuesday a consent decree agreement between the police department and the U.S. Department of Justice on how to ameliorate what Justice officials called in December a pattern of unlawful police practices and uses of force, much of them aimed at African Americans. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson stood with the city’s police chief, U.S. attorney Steven Dettelbach, and DOJ Civil Rights Division head Vanita Gupta to formally display the 105-page document, which will focus on community engagement, racially “bias-free policing,” crisis intervention, and reforming the use of force.

U.S. Attorney Dettelbach called the consent decree “a historic agreement” that “will not only serve as a roadmap for reform in Cleveland, but as a national model for any police department ready to escort a great city to the forefront of the 21st century.”