DOJ Report Slams Cleveland Police for Using Excessive Force and Other Systemic Problems

The Cleveland Police Department fared poorly in a review of its used-of-force practices and policies released Thursday by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department.

The report comes in the tense aftermath of several police use-of-force controversies nationwide, including Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri, and locally, a Cleveland police officer’s deadly shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in a local park Nov. 22, in which the boy was wielding a realistic-looking plastic air gun.

In the press conference announcing the critical report, Holder said Thursday that comprehensive reforms are necessary, and the Justice Department is prepared to take legal action to get them, according to reporting by the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Northeast Ohio Media Group/Cleveland.com).

Joined by U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson in the public unveiling of the report, Holder said the civil-rights investigation examined nearly 600 use-of-force incidents between 2010 and 2013, in addition to hundreds of interviews and thousands of documents.

Serious problems uncovered in the investigation, according to the Northeast Ohio Media Group’s report, include a lack of accountability, insufficient training, policies that don’t work, and not enough engagement with the community.

These issues were listed and explained in a 58-page letter submitted to Mayor Jackson.

In the coming months, Dettelbach said at the press conference, the Justice Department will work with Cleveland city and police officials, while also participating in community forums, to put substantial policy reforms into effect. Eventually, he said, a court-appointed, independent monitor will oversee a consent degree laying out the mandated reforms.

Findings in the DOJ report, which can be found here, include:

• The Cleveland Police have engaged in a pattern of excessive force that violates the constitutional rights of citizens.

• Officers have been too quick to pull their firearms, which has escalated situations, or have fired them when not necessary by the circumstances at hand (an allegation leveled in the recent Tamir Rice shooting).

• Police officers have Tasered or punched suspects already in handcuffs or otherwise in police control.

• The Police Department has been lax in investigating or disciplining officers suspected in the use of excessive force.

The Justice Department launched its civil-rights investigation of Cleveland in March 2013 at the request of Mayor Jackson, U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Cleveland, and other community and religious leaders. It was sparked by a November 2012 police chase in which the two unarmed individuals being chased died in a barrage of 137 police bullets.

The report, according to the Northeast Ohio Media Group report, does acknowledge challenges faced by police officers in Cleveland, and stresses that the majority of the department’s officers behave correctly and competently, and don’t violate anyone’s constitutional rights.