COLUMBUS, Ohio – A day after the U.S. Justice Department issued a scathing report on Cleveland’s police force, and amid rising tensions between law enforcement agencies and minority communities, a statewide task force is being appointed to improve community-police relations.
Kasich, Attorney General Mike DeWine, Sen. Nina Turner (D-Cleveland), Rep. Alicia Reece, president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus; state Public Safety director John Born and the head of the Department of Jobs and Family Services, Cynthia Dungey, are among those officials who were slated to appear at a news conference at the governor’s office to announce the formation of the panel.
Kasich’s office says the task force “will listen to Ohio’s communities, research best practices and make recommendations to state and local policy makers” on improving relations between residents and law enforcement agencies.
In its report, unveiled by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in Cleveland on Thursday, the Justice Department said the city’s police officers use excessive and unnecessary force far too often, are poorly trained and endanger the public and their fellow officers with their recklessness.
The report says officers too often violate people’s civil rights because of inadequate training and a lack of supervision and accountability.
The department and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson have agreed to work toward the appointment of a court-appointed monitor to oversee police reforms that will include search-and-seizure practices.
The federal investigation was prompted by several highly publicized encounters, chiefly the deaths of two unarmed people who were shot in a hail of police gunfire in November 2012. The inquiry predates last month’s shooting of a 12-year-old boy outside a Cleveland recreation center.
Shortly after delivering the investigation’s findings, Holder hosted a private forum in the city for community leaders and others.
The 90-minute meeting was the second in a series of regional sessions to talk about building trust between law enforcement and minority communities. The session, attended by about 50 people, was closed to the media.
Cleveland City Councilman Matt Zone says Holder encouraged the group to continue the dialogue between the community and police to improve relations.