CLEVELAND — U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver said the City of Cleveland must turn over police records within 14 days to the federal monitoring team overseeing police reforms during a status conference Thursday.
U.S. Department of Justice attorneys alleged the City of Cleveland violated the terms of the consent decree by failing to provide records to monitor the city's police officers.
In a motion filed March 1, the attorneys alleged Cleveland stopped providing information about stops, searches, and arrests in spring 2023 and ultimately "cut off all access to CDP information systems."
Cleveland Law Director and Chief Legal Officer Mark Griffin said the city was not violating the consent decree.
"The city wants to get out of the consent decree by getting all the information to the monitor and the department of justice, but we’re handcuffed," he said.
Griffin said State LEADS administrators raised concerns about sharing data with the monitoring team. Griffin said the city's data is "co-mingled" with the state's data.
The City of Cleveland agreed to federal oversight after signing a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in May 2015.
The agreement followed a USDOJ investigation which found Cleveland police engaged in a "pattern or practice" of excessive force."
Police Accountability Team Executive Director Dr. Leigh Anderson said the city is still making progress, and she does not expect this delay to elongate the time Cleveland remains under federal oversight.
A City of Cleveland spokesperson said the city will work to provide records to the monitoring team immediately.
