Washington Post
CINCINNATI - A year after Cincinnati erupted in riots over the shooting of a black man by police, the city agreed to restrictions on the use of force and announced plans today to establish an independent agency that would investigate police brutality complaints.
The moves are intended to satisfy U.S. Justice Department concerns and settle a lawsuit accusing the police force of harassing blacks for the past 30 years. The settlement of the lawsuit still must be approved by the various parties by Tuesday to avoid a trial.
The independent agency would have seven citizen members appointed by the mayor and City Council, and would have its own investigative staff. It would replace a city investigative office as well as an existing citizen police review panel that has no staff.
The new panel would investigate such things as shootings, deaths in custody and other uses of force.
The settlement of the lawsuit was released after days of negotiations among city lawyers, the police union and parties that filed the lawsuit, including black activists and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Settlement talks were joined last week by representatives of the Justice Department, which is investigating police department procedures and has recommended numerous changes to enhance training, improve up recordkeeping and make policies clearer.