The Cleveland Division of Police has been under a federal consent decree since 2015, but that agreement is now under review and could be terminated.
There’s uncertainty swirling around Cleveland’s federal consent decree following the closure of civil rights investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice into several police departments. This has sparked concerns about the future of police reform and accountability in the city.
Subodh Chandra, a civil rights attorney, expressed his frustration upon hearing about the Trump administration’s decision to halt investigations into patterns of unconstitutional police behavior. He criticized the administration for neglecting its duty to uphold constitutional policing and protect citizens’ rights.
Chandra’s disappointment with the administration’s actions stems from what he perceives as a disregard for the rule of law, constitutional principles, and an indifference to safeguarding individuals from potential violations of their Fourth Amendment rights by law enforcement.
Officials said lawsuits filed during President Joe Biden’s administration against two city police departments — Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, Minnesota — would be dismissed. Here in Cleveland, the police department has been under a federal consent decree since 2015, a period that includes the entirety of President Donald Trump’s first term from 2017-21.
Like the other cities, Chandra says Cleveland still has much work to do.
“It takes a lot for a city and its police department to wind up under a federal consent decree and court order. It takes a lot,” he explained. “You have to have had a significant pattern and practice of misconduct that’s been thoroughly investigated and documented. That is true in Minneapolis, that is true in Phoenix, that is true in Memphis, that is true in these cities where the Justice Department is pulling out. And what that means for all the victims of unjustified police violence is there’s no justice, and what that means for everybody else who hasn’t yet been a victim of unjustified police violence is that it’s open season on them.”
Last month, Trump ordered a review of all federal police consent decrees, pledging to remove “political handcuffs that make aggressively enforcing the law impossible.” A spokesman from Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s office told 3News there has been no dismissal notice filed in the case here, adding that “the city is actively taking steps that reaffirm our commitments to constitutional policing and keeping out residents safe regardless of whatever decision is made in Washington D.C.”
