Marcus Perez, who heads one of Cleveland’s police oversight agencies, has returned to work after about six weeks of voluntary leave. Perez continues to work remotely as the city wraps up an investigation sparked by a series of employee complaints lodged during his short tenure at the Office of Professional Standards (OPS).
The office investigates resident complaints of potential misconduct by police officers and dispatchers. For years, the office was housed in the same city department as the police it investigated. In 2021, voters passed Issue 24 to make it more independent. OPS now reports to the Civilian Police Review Board, which is led by nine city residents.
Although Issue 24 granted those agencies independence from the city in some ways, it did not account for how these newly independent agencies would function in practice, according to a city spokesperson.
For example, the city human resources department still investigates complaints and recommends actions to the board, though the board makes hiring, firing and discipline decisions for OPS employees.
The details and challenges of Issue 24 are not unique to Cleveland, wrote city spokesperson Tyler Sinclair in an email.
Civilian Police Review Board has final authority on employee discipline
Perez joined OPS after spending 20 years in the military, most recently as the senior inspector general at the Pentagon.
The office did not have a leader for 18 months before Perez joined it last May. Since then, the city has investigated three employee complaints. The investigation into the fourth complaint, filed Nov. 16, is ongoing.
Following the third investigation, the city found evidence that Perez violated a city policy that prohibits behavior such as harassment of employees. It turned its findings over to the review board, which “serves as the final authority in the disciplinary process,” Sinclair wrote in a Jan. 17 email.
The review board recommended “coaching as corrective action,” according to an email from Sinclair. Signal Cleveland submitted a records request for documentation of the decision since there is nothing in the board’s public minutes about voting or making decisions on these issues.
The city said that it never received documentation from the board of the coaching or any subsequent discipline. The city ultimately provided Signal Cleveland with documents related to the corrective action and coaching.
Perez told Signal Cleveland he had “no comment” on his return to work. In November, he said he was only aware of one complaint and went on leave to “ensure that the office could speak without concern.”
Billy Sharp, chair of the Civilian Police Review Board, has not returned multiple requests for comment.
Employee complaints against Marcus Perez piled up quickly
Since Perez started in May, at least four employees have filed complaints and multiple have quit. Two of the employees said in letters to the city that they resigned because Perez’s leadership style was “abusive” and “hostile.”
One of the employees who resigned, Julie Delaney, wrote an email to the review board on July 10 about Perez’s conduct and begged for a chance to meet with the board to discuss his behavior.
“The chilling effect of his management style is that staff is walking on eggshells, the laughter in the office has stopped, and he’s created an atmosphere of distrust and fear of losing our jobs,” she wrote in her letter to the review board.
The review board met with staff during an executive session on July 11 to discuss “employment complaints related to the Office of Professional Standards,” according to the July meeting minutes. Two months later, Delaney resigned.
In her resignation letter, she wrote that nothing had changed and “Perez continues to engage abusively with OPS staff despite complaints that have been filed with HR.”
The city’s human resources department investigated three of the complaints and dismissed two, including Delaney’s. Sylvia Grimes, the review board’s secretary, submitted the third complaint in July. A month later, she sent a follow-up email to human resources.
“I haven’t felt comfortable coming to work at OPS … I’m worried about retaliation,” Grimes wrote in an email on Aug. 24. Her email also characterized Perez’s conduct toward her as a “verbal attack.”
The interaction happened in front of at least six witnesses, including office staff and the city’s labor relations manager, according to Grimes’ email.
“I strongly believe that [Perez] feels nothing will come from my complaint,” Grimes wrote.
On Aug. 25, the day after Grimes sent the email, human resources sent both Grimes and Perez letters notifying them that Perez had violated the city’s policy against violence in the workplace.
Grimes is still employed at the review board, a position she’s held since October 2022. She has not responded to requests for comment.
‘Coaching as corrective action’ issued in August
After the city investigated Grimes’ complaint, the review board decided on “coaching” for Perez. Perez was three months into the job and the review board recommended it as “corrective action,” according to Sinclair.
Sinclair provided Signal Cleveland with a copy of the “coaching proposal” that outlined the process, including 12 biweekly coaching sessions. Perez is expected to complete 24 hours of coaching, according to the contract, which is through a company the city uses for employee assistance. So far, Perez has utilized 14 ½ hours, Sinclair wrote in a Jan. 18 email.
The coaching proposal also outlined tensions in the office, such as “resistance to change and accountability and some tension between Mr. Perez and the existing staff members of the OPS team.” Perez previously told Signal Cleveland that people tend to fear change and that staff weren’t qualified to do their jobs.
Signal Cleveland submitted a records request for documentation of the corrective action in December and was told that the city never received anything from the review board. There is also no mention of it in the publicly available review board meeting minutes. It’s unclear whether the board discussed or voted on the “coaching.”
Sinclair told Signal Cleveland that since the review board is now independent, records requests must be submitted directly to the board. The board does not have an address, phone number or email listed on the city’s website.
Later, the city said that requests could be routed through the city’s law department, which recently began assisting the human resources investigation.
Perez absent from January review board meeting
After its final meeting for 2023, the review board scheduled an additional meeting to “consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion or compensation of a public employee or the investigation or charges or complaints against a public employee” for Dec. 28.
Prior to the meeting, city human resources officials told Sharp that they were not ready to present their findings on the fourth and most recent complaint (the one filed in November), according to Sinclair. Once the investigation is final, the meeting will be rescheduled and the city can report its findings to the review board, he said.
On Dec. 29, Sharp emailed the review board and some of the OPS staff to say he had directed Perez to return to remote work on Jan. 2, 2024, and that Sharp will continue to lead the OPS management team until further notice.
“There is no change to daily operations,” Sharp wrote in the email. The city referred further questions about his return to the review board.
The Civilian Police Review Board hosted its first meeting of the year virtually on Jan. 9. The meeting, typically led by Perez, was instead led by OPS’ senior investigator, Vince Funari. Perez did not attend the meeting.
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Perez, administrator from the Office of Professional Standards, remains on paid leave following four employee discrimination complaints.