Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
Good morning and thank you all for joining us. Thank you Attorney General Holder for your
tremendous leadership and support of the work of the Civil Rights Division over
the last six years. Thank you, Steve,
for being such a strong partner in this investigation. Throughout this investigation and beyond, the
attorneys from our offices have worked side-by-side in our collective effort to
enforce our national civil rights laws.
Thank you also, Mayor Jackson, for joining us today and for the
leadership to the city that you have provided throughout this process. No one knows this city better than you, and
no one wants to effect positive change for the citizens of Cleveland more than
you do. I would also like to thank Chief
Williams and Public Safety Director McGrath for their cooperation throughout
this process and the leadership that they provide to the Cleveland Division of
Police. And, finally, thanks to the
hardworking team from the Civil Rights Division and the United States
Attorney’s Office that investigated this case: Mark Kappelhoff, Jonathan Smith,
Tim Mygatt; Emily Gunston, Rashida Ogletree;
Jack Morse, Earl Saunders, Oscar Poma, Michelle Heyer, Heather Volosin
and Carole Rendon.
We have worked hard to complete a thorough and independent
review of the Cleveland Division of Police and its use of force. When we opened this investigation in March
2013, at the invitation of Mayor Jackson, we set out to uncover the facts and
to follow them wherever they led. I am
here today to report that we have done just that. As the Attorney General and Steve have
summarized, the team has conducted an exhaustive review of the Cleveland
Division of Police to determine whether a pattern or practice of excessive
force exists.
The investigation concluded that there is reasonable cause
to believe that Cleveland Police engage in a pattern or practice of
unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. That pattern manifested in a range of ways,
including:
The unnecessary and
excessive use of deadly force, including shootings and head strikes with impact
weapons;
The unnecessary,
excessive or retaliatory use of less lethal force including Tasers, chemical
spray and fists;
Excessive force
against persons who are mentally ill and in crisis, including in cases where
the officers were called exclusively for a welfare check; and
The employment of
poor and dangerous tactics that placed officers in situations where avoidable
force became inevitable.
As part of our investigation, we also assessed the reasons
why officers resort to excessive force.
Our investigation revealed that the causes of these patterns or
practices were systemic and resulted from organizational deficiencies. Principle among these is the Cleveland
Division of Police’s failure to implement effective and rigorous accountability
systems. Force incidents too often are
not properly reported, documented, investigated, or addressed with corrective
measures. Supervisors throughout the
chain of command endorse questionable and sometimes unlawful conduct by
officers. Officers are not provided with
adequate training, policy guidance, and supervision to do their jobs safely and
effectively. Community policing
strategies are not sufficiently embedded in the division.
In the course of our investigation we also discovered that
some of the division’s search, seizure, and arrest practices appear to violate
the Fourth Amendment. We have asked that
the division work with us to address these concerns even though they were
beyond the scope of our initial investigation.
We announce these findings today against the backdrop of the
events in Ferguson and New York and in the wake of a shooting here in Cleveland
of a 12 year old boy just days ago.
These events have spawned a national conversation about police
practices, community-police trust, and public safety. While the issues confronting each community
are unique and the solutions must be tailored to the problems and strengths at
hand, Cleveland is not alone in the need to address confidence between the
community and its police department.
Other communities around the nation also struggle with these
issues. Nevertheless, I stand here with
optimism and hope. Our experience around
the nation shows that, together, we can work towards solutions and forge a
constructive path forward. That is why
I’m so pleased that the Mayor is standing here today as a full partner in this
effort to create real, sustainable change of the Cleveland Division of Police.
The Civil Rights Division, though its work with police
departments across the country, has shown that the prospect of police
accountability and criminal justice reform is not merely an aspiration, but an
achievable goal. Accountability requires
having systems, policies, and practices in place to ensure that police
departments identify problems, correct conduct, and reform procedures so that
officers can serve their communities in an effective, constitutional and
legitimate manner. Doing so makes
communities safer, and ensures that residents partner with the police to
address problems, thereby making the job of delivering police services safer
and easier.
Over the last six years, the Civil Rights Division has
fanned out across the Nation and undertaken investigations of law enforcement
in every corner of this country. This
work has resulted in landmark agreements that are changing the way that police
services are being delivered, and reforming use of force practices, as well as
racial and ethnic bias in policing all across our nation. And we have found that reform is always more
attainable and more sustainable when we work in collaboration with the police department
and the community.
These initiatives, while far from enough, provide models for
going forward. Change that ensures that
all people are equal before the law, and that law enforcement is seen as a part
of, rather than distant from, the communities they serve, is possible. Public safety requires more than a reduction
in crime; it is also contingent on trust between law enforcement and the
community, and a shared sense that our criminal justice system operates fairly
and legitimately.
Where our investigations reveal a pattern or practice of
unconstitutional conduct, we have worked with those departments and cities to
bring about sustainable reform through the use of court-enforceable
agreements. And we have seen these
agreements – and the efforts made by these police departments – work.
Today, we join Mayor Jackson, the city of Cleveland, Chief
Williams, and the Cleveland Division of Police to work together to implement
positive, permanent change.
We recognize that the Cleveland Division of Police has taken
some steps to address the preliminary concerns we have raised with the division
throughout our investigation. The
division has revised its policies, purchased new equipment, and adopted a new
community policing initiative, among other measures. However, while promising, the division must
still make many more changes and undergo a complete cultural shift if
constitutional policing is to become a core division value. We look forward to working with city
officials, the division of Police, and community stakeholders towards that end,
and to developing a comprehensive blueprint for sustainable reform. The community’s voice in this process is
critical and we look forward to engaging with the many people who rely and
depend on Cleveland police officers for their safety.
Before I conclude, I would like to speak directly to the men
and women of the Cleveland Division of Police.
We thank you for your service.
You have an enormously important and difficult job. This investigation revealed that you are
being asked to perform that job without adequate policy guidance, training,
supervision or other support and, importantly, in some cases without adequate
equipment. We know that you want to be,
and want to be seen, as part of the communities that you serve. This process can give you the tools to be
more effective, to partner with civilians to create public safety, to make your
job safer and to ensure that the criminal justice system is equitable and seen
by all as legitimate. We look forward to
partnering with you, along with the city and the many communities that make up
Cleveland, to achieve these goals.
Over the course of the upcoming days, weeks, and months, we
will reach out to all segments of the community. We want to hear your concerns and include
remedies that will work for Cleveland.
The Department of Justice will remain engaged as long as necessary until
reform is achieved, and not a day more.
But when we are done, it is up to the people of Cleveland and the
officers of the Cleveland Division of Police to ensure that the reform is
sustained.
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