Federal monitors check in on Cleveland police, DOJ decree progress

DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - Within six months Cleveland police are to be trained on use of force and dealing with the mentally ill.

The reason the feds placed Cleveland under a consent decree is because it found systemic over-use of force, including deadly force used on the mentally ill.

Matthew Barge, chief of the federal monitoring group, asked the city this week where the police department stood in terms of complying with the U.S. Department of Justice and the consent decree.

"I think they have reached a number of critical milestones," said Matt Zone, chair of the Cleveland Safety Committee. "As I told council, getting good use of force policies approved by the court has taken a long time in other cities and Cleveland has done it, I think, in really record time."

A police review board has been in place in Cleveland since 1984. It's now 2017.

When it comes to pace of change, the always outspoken Councilman Zack Reed of Ward 2 said he's not happy about the progress -- or the lack thereof.

"From the start we hear the great lip service things are getting better, we're working together, we're getting there -- but then you hear small things like the mission statement not being addressed. You hear about the fact that we still don't have police cars adequately. We still don't have laptops that are in the police cars, that laptops are sitting is some basement somewhere," he said.

A little-known fact included in the DOJ Consent Decree is police officers are required to tell if they see a fellow officer do something wrong.

Much of the training spelled out in the decree is expected to be complete by mid-year.

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