The Associated Press
CINCINNATI (AP) - The city no longer needs the U.S. Department of Justice to oversee reforms in police procedures and practices, Mayor Charlie Luken said in a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Police have made major improvements since Luken asked the Justice Department to investigate the department’s practices following riots in the city in April 2001, Luken said in a letter Tuesday.
Police officers and supervisors have achieved “outstanding results” and should be allowed to run the department as they see fit, he said, and the requests and demands of Justice Department officials have become a nuisance to police.
“I don’t see why we have to put our police department through this silliness,” Luken told The Cincinnati Enquirer. “That’s enough. Go find the terrorists or something. You don’t have to do this in Cincinnati, Ohio.”
The court-appointed monitor who oversees the reforms disagreed with Luken’s claim that the city is ready to be released from its 2002 agreement with the Justice Department. And civil rights lawyers who helped negotiate the agreement said the mayor’s comments suggest that he isn’t serious about meaningful change.
“It’s delusional to suggest everything is fine and everyone should just go away,” said Scott Greenwood, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. “Their goal is not to fix the department but to get out from under the agreement as soon as possible.”
The reforms are part of a settlement reached more than two years ago involving the Justice Department, police, the city and civil rights activists.
The settlement consists of two agreements. One is a deal with the Justice Department to reform the police department. The other is a “collaborative agreement” dedicated to improving the relationship between police and blacks, who contend they were subjected to unequal treatment by police for decades.
Luken’s letter takes aim at the settlement with the Justice Department. In that agreement, the city promised to change the way police officers do their jobs, including training policies, use of force and the way supervisors track performance.
The terms of the settlement are supposed to last five years and can be lifted early only with the permission of U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott.
“It’s a contract,” said Saul Green, the monitor Dlott appointed to oversee the reforms. “One side cannot unilaterally decide they are done.”
In his letter, Luken cited several areas of improvement, such as the use of Tasers to reduce the use of physical force, chemical irritant and other methods of subduing suspects. Taser guns administer an electrical current meant to temporarily immobilize a suspect to allow police to arrest a suspect.
But Luken said Justice Department lawyers continue to demand changes in policies and procedures.
“Part of the problem is they keep nit picking,” said Luken. “It’s time for them to declare victory and go home.”
Green, whose most recent quarterly report was issued Oct. 1, noted progress in several areas but also urged police to do more.
“Based on our reports, we have not found them to be in substantial compliance,” Green said.