Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson hosts
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson told reporters during a news conference Friday that he wants substantive, sustainable reforms within the Police Department that will "outlive me as mayor."
(Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson says that reforming the police department has ranked among his top priorities since the day he took office in 2006, and that he sees a consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department as a way to expedite that change.
During a news conference Friday at City Hall, Jackson said he believes the media have misinterpreted his position as the city enters negotiations with federal officials on how best to address the Justice Department's findings that Cleveland police officers too often use excessive force on citizens. (See Jackson's presentation in the document viewer below.)
The mayor said that since federal officials released the results of their 21-month investigation in December, he has proceeded with caution only because he wants to make sure that all is done right -- that the agreement outlines measures that bring substantive, sustainable and institutionalized reform that will "outlive me as mayor and outlive you as reporters.
"Reform is not new to me," Jackson said during the two-hour news conference. "Reform is what we do. So the notion that we are ignoring the situation or that we believe that this is not serious is not only a misrepresentation in terms of its accuracy, but it is something that really does not enhance our ability to move forward and get an accelerated reform."
Jackson walked reporters down a timeline of changes he has helped implement since his days as a city councilman. (Click here to read more on Jackson's timeline.)
In 1993, Jackson and the late councilwoman Fannie Lewis championed legislation that banned the use of choke holds by police officers -- a law that inspired the use of pepper spray as an alternative, he said.
Jackson reminded reporters that the day after he was sworn in as mayor in 2006, he announced at a news conference that "excessive force will not be tolerated and that officers will be held accountable for any violation of that standard."
Soon after he took office, Jackson's administration discovered a backlog of hundreds of use-of-force cases that had not been closed and more than 40 use-of-deadly-force investigations that were still pending with the city prosecutor's office.
Jackson said he hired a special prosecutor to handle the backlog. The city sent one of those cases to then-County Prosecutor Bill Mason, who declined to present it to a grand jury, the mayor said.
Since then, Jackson's administration has been incrementally refining police policies and procedures, he said.
The internal investigative process now adheres to 90-day deadlines. The policy on vehicle pursuits has been improved to provide more clarity on limitations and when supervisors should call off a chase. After the city invited the Police Executive Research Forum to review the procedure for investigating excessive force in 2011, the city implemented all 27 recommendations, he said.
The administration is in the process of outfitting all officers with body-mounted cameras, which will make the city the only one of its size with the technology, he said.
"We were not unaware of our need for reform and just had our head in the ground," Jackson said. "We haven't been ignoring this. It's not as if we're just pretending that this issue doesn't exist. If that were the case, none of these actions would have occurred. ... If your perception was that we were ignoring the facts, your perception hopefully has been corrected."
Jackson points to statistics that show that since 2006, calls for service have reduced by 23 percent, arrests have gone down by 22 percent, less lethal force incidents have reduced by 54 percent and deadly force incidents have dropped by 48 percent.
The Justice Department report skewered the city for abysmal record keeping and failure to produce documents needed to assess whether officers are using force appropriately.
Federal officials said in the report that the police department's inability to find the documents is in itself evidence of systemic breakdowns, suggesting that any internal assessment of use of force is likely incomplete and inaccurate.
Jackson acknowledged some record-keeping problems Friday, but said that those issues do not invalidate the overall conclusions drawn from the statistics. If the city's number of use-of-force incidents were inaccurate, he said, there would be more civilian complaints filed with the Office of Professional Standards without corresponding police documentation.
Jackson said more work needs to be done and that he would welcome a federal monitor to help keep reforms on pace.
The police department soon will begin recruiting officers year round and expand efforts to attract candidates from urban areas that represent the demographics of the city, he said.
Officers will receive more in-service and scenario-based training that simulates real-world experiences they are likely to have. The civil service exam is being evaluated to determine if a cadet's psychological factors should be more closely scrutinized.
All officers will be trained in mental-health crisis intervention within three years, and the topic will be included in academy classes and in-service training sessions, Jackson said.
The police force also is being introduced to the philosophy of community policing through an online training curriculum, which Jackson promises is "not the full community policing program."
New technology will enhance tracking of use-of-force investigations, will make information more accessible to officers in the field and will flag officers who might benefit from the help of an early intervention program, the mayor said.
Jackson emphasized that he invited the Justice Department's investigation, and he said that his only complaint is that the findings don't go far enough. He added that he initially requested that federal investigators examine the entire criminal justice continuum, including disparities in the grand jury system and courts.
The mayor said he regrets that he didn't put that request in writing.
Overall, he sees the negotiation process as a catalyst for change. But it will require prudence and resistance to political pressure, he said.
"I want a constructive outcome based on facts, reality and truth, not based on what sells and what does not sell," he said. "I want substantive reform. ... And I'm not going to settle for something else just to get passed the moment or to meet someone else's deadline."