In the last year and a half, NewsChannel 5 has uncovered major problems with two city agencies charged with resolving citizen complaints of Cleveland police misconduct and deadly force incidents. Now, complainants are speaking out in frustration.
"I almost didn't file [my complaint] because I thought it might be a waste of time," said Rachelle Smith, a Cleveland resident. "Now I'm starting to think it is just a waste of time."
"My faith with getting any sort of resolution to this problem is pretty much shot," said Alana Belle, a Cleveland resident.
Both Smith and Belle filed complaints against Cleveland police officers to the Office of Professional Standards, or OPS, an agency that investigates such matters. Its sister agency, the Civilian Police Review Board, is charged with deciding the outcome of those complaints, with the power to rule that an officer should be disciplined or even terminated. However, the city's police chief has the final say.
Smith filed her complaint December 9, 2015, six months after she said an officer struck her in the midst of a protest over the Michael Brelo verdict.
"He reached outside the cruiser, struck me across both forearms in what appeared to be an attempt to drop my phone," she said.
Smith said she was attempting to take a picture of the officer's badge because she noticed him using what appeared to be his personal phone to document the protest.
"I wasn't attempting to antagonize him or be aggressive," she added.
City policy states that using personal computer equipment for critical police tasks is prohibited, unless given written permission.
On December 29 and 30, 2015, Belle said an officer first tried to hit her in his patrol car during a Tamir Rice protest. The next day, she said he targeted her again.
"He was grabbing my sleeve, grabbed the front of my hoodie," said Belle.
Both women said OPS investigators conducted a taped interview weeks after they submitted their written complaints. But since then, they have received no updates.
They certainly are not alone. According to the public databases listed on the OPS & review board website, there are hundreds of complaints and just dozens of decisions. And what is not on their website is a list of the 2014 investigations, which was taken down last week after NewsChannel 5 once again confronted the head of OPS.
Of the 474 complaints made that year, the board had only ruled on 46 of them.
Once again, Damon Scott, the head of OPS, and Thomas Jones, the chairman of the Civilian Police Review Board, declined to talk to NewsChannel 5. Scott makes nearly $87,000 a year. Jones receives an annual stipend of $7,700.
Neither Smith or Belle was ever arrested while protesting.
"If I did that to him [the officer], I would have been charged with assault on a police officer, a police officer who should act with extreme professionalism," added Smith.
