POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY
Police misconduct has cost Cleveland nearly $30 million over the last decade. Trust is broken and the only way to restore it is by insisting on better training and stronger citizen oversight of police. As the son of a police officer, this is personal to me, too. We can’t have public safety and true justice without more police accountability, that’s why I support the Citizens for a Safer Cleveland ballot initiative. Comprehensive, citizen-led oversight will lead to police reform, improve law enforcement, save taxpayers’ money, rebuild trust, and most importantly save lives.
Back to the PLAN
• Create a truly independent, citizen-led oversight board, I am the only candidate who has endorsed this year’s Citizens for a Safer Cleveland ballot initiative (Issue 24) on police accountability. It will strengthen the Community Police Commission in the federal consent decree initiated by Mayor Jackson in 2015, and make it the final authority on police discipline.
• Recommit to enforce the Consent Decree, the Federal Consent Decree on the CPD must be met top to bottom to achieve less crime, total accountability, and real transparency. Community Police Commission members must be able to speak transparently about issues like police violence and mass incarceration, without reprisal.
• Mandate yearly racial and gender equity training and incentivize development for all our public safety workers to increase standards for policing with justice.
• Post video of all use-of-force incidents within seven days to increase accountability and transparency, similar to legislation proposed in Akron.