CLEVELAND — A police watchdog group in Cleveland is back online now that the city has concluded an investigation.
The city said it was a clear abuse of authority when the Office of Professional Standards (OPS) shared sensitive data.
OPS investigated citizen complaints against police officers.
The city said OPS downloaded social security numbers, home addresses and emergency contacts of officers and put that information on a dashboard sent to nearly 100 people with the city and federal government.
According to a city spokesman, it's possible unapproved people were able to access the dashboard, but right now, they don't believe the link and sensitive information were shared or viewed beyond the initial group.
OPS Administrator Marcus Perez emailed the dashboard link to top police brass, the DOJ, federal monitors and city council members.
Perez told News 5 Investigators he was working on the dashboard that only contained information you could see at public meetings.
The city wrapped up its investigation after shutting out the oversight team for about a week.
Watchdog groups said city interference was crippling police oversight.
On Monday, News 5 Investigators asked Police Chief Annie Todd about the city investigation.
“You know, we have to make sure that not only the information of the officers, but the community is protected. The citizens who go on to make these complaints against officers, a lot of them go into that thinking it’s an anonymous complaint and having their information or you know personal information of the officer's is concerning,” Chief Todd said.OPS was told to take down the dashboard.
The city said Administrator Perez did not follow a city policy on sharing sensitive information.
Perez’s office will still have access to everything it needs for its job, but will not have download and export capabilities.
Last month, Perez told News 5 Investigators he expected to be forced to resign. As of late Friday, he is still employed as the OPS Administrator for the city.
The city said it's possible the Inspector General's office will also review the matter.
