The Cleveland Community Police Commission voted to adopt rules for handling appeals of police discipline cases, the next-to-last step toward wielding a power the commission has held since 2023 but never used.
The vote, at a special meeting Thursday night, “was definitely a significant milestone for CPC,” Commissioner Tera Coleman, who led the effort as chair of the CPC Rules Committee, told Signal Cleveland after the meeting. “This is kind of the crux of our authority, to do these hearings, and accountability is what Issue 24 and the consent decree really intended. This is one of our core responsibilities.”
Issue 24 is the legislation, passed by Cleveland voters in 2021, that gave the CPC final authority over police discipline cases and policies. The consent decree is the city’s 10-year-old agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to improve police accountability.
The rules that the commissioners voted on last week must be approved by the Justice Department and the Monitoring Team that tracks the city’s progress on consent decree requirements before CPC can begin to hold hearings. (The head of the monitoring team, Karl Racine, resigned suddenly last week. Another member of the team was named interim leader.)
The CPC won’t investigate resident complaints about officer behavior. That is still the role of the Office of Professional Standards. The Cleveland Police Internal Affairs unit investigates officer conduct if there’s a possibility it could lead to criminal charges.
The Office of Professional Standards (known as OPS) reports to the Civilian Police Review Board (or CPRB), which decides punishments for misconduct.
At the request of a resident, or on its own, the CPC can hold a hearing to review a punishment and decide whether it was sufficient or impose discipline if the CPRB didn’t. The CPC can also send cases back to the review board and standards office for further investigation.
Officers can also request a hearing and the CPC can reduce a punishment if commissioners determine that it was retaliation for whistleblowing.
Coleman said at the meeting the CPC rules committee will focus next on producing a guide to the process, similar to the Citizen’s Guide to the Cleveland Police Consent Decree. She also encouraged citizens to send questions about the process to clecpc@clevelandohio.gov.
