Pictured is Cleveland Mayot Justin Bibb

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CLEVELAND, Ohio-Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb is creating a Police Accountability Team to support the Cleveland Division of Police (CDP)'s continuing improvements and to assist with the final successful implementation of the consent decree, he says.

The city and the U.S. Department of Justice are parties to the court-monitored consent decree for police reforms that was implemented in May of 2015 behind several questionable police shooting deaths of unarmed Blacks over the last decade, including Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in 2012, who were gunned down by 13-non-Black Cleveland cops shooting 137 bullets, and 12-year-old Tamir Rice in November of 2014. And Cleveland voters passed a controversial new charter amendment of police oversight known as Issue 24 last November.

Police accoutability and public saftey are key to the mayor's reform initiative as uirban cities natrionwide like Cleveland struggle with rising crime, poverty, educational inequity for largely Black public school students, and racism, all while tensions between police and the Black community continue to flouish.

"The safety of our neighbors and our community is our number one priority," said Mayor Bibb, who took office in January and succeeded four term former mayor Frank Jackson, who retired last year and was mayor when the consent decree was first implemented.

Bibb said that "we support our police, and this team will help ensure that the improvements we have made become permanent parts of our culture of service, safety and accountability."

The mayor said that the goal of the new Police Accountability Team (PAT) is to achieve successful compliance, continual review, and collaboration with the CDP. The day-to-day work will include policy review, updates, audits, and critical data analysis to capture results and make recommendations for appropriate modifications to ensure best practices and move the city toward eventual compliance and termination of the consent decree.

The city is seeking a qualified candidate to serve as executive director who will assemble and collaborate closely with Cleveland employees who have been assigned to work on the consent decree since its inception. The PAT will include professionals who are skilled in police procedure, community engagement, data analysis, and the law of constitutional policing.

Bibb, 35 and the city's fourth Black mayor behind Jackson, said that since 2019, CDP's overall use of excessive force incidents are down 42 percent, criminal misconduct allegations made during Internal Affairs investigations have sharply decreased, and cases are being closed more quickly, with an average time of 144 days in 2021 (compared to 307 days in 2018).

And according to the mayor, since 2020, excessive force complaints are down 54 percent, improper procedure complaints have decreased, and the CDP has increased the use of crisis intervention de-escalation techniques by 24 percent.

The mayor said that since he took office the city has made progress on police reforms in several areas, including the expanded use of the diversion center for non-violent offenders, more crisis intervention training and increased community engagement through mandatory park and walks and a host of community events that encourage positive interaction between law enforcement and residents.

The city and the DOJ submitted a joint amendment to the consent decree in March of this year to permit the implementation of Charter Section 115, formerly known as Issue 24. The resulting new 13-member Community Police Commission, once confirmed by city council, will be a permanent, independent municipal commission with final authority over CDP policies, procedures, hiring practices and training. They will have final say over officer discipline along with the power to subpoena documents.

"We are focused on making Cleveland a national model for police reform. Right now, we have multiple layers and mechanisms for oversight," said Mayor Bibb. "Moving forward, we are focused on implementing lasting, sustainable change under the consent decree as we shift towards independent oversight."