Associated Press
CINCINNATI (AP) - The U.S. Department of Justice wants Cincinnati police officers to make a report every time they draw their guns and aim at someone.
The city could be the first to require such reports.
Cincinnati police officials say the requirement could endanger officers, who might hesitate to draw their weapons in dangerous situations to avoid paperwork and second-guessing.
The requirement was among 91 changes to police operations that the Justice Department recommended in October.
Mayor Charlie Luken asked for the federal review after riots erupted in April when a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black man who was running from police. The officer was acquitted in the shooting.
A lawsuit filed by black activists in March accuses police of 30 years of harassing black people.
The city’s 26-page response to the Justice Department, released last Monday, promises changes in policies governing how officers use force and chemical irritants and how they handle citizen complaints.
But the city’s negative response to the “un-holstering” recommendation could end up being the biggest sticking point in negotiations between the city and the federal government, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Sunday.
Attorney Ken Lawson said the issue seriously worries some members of Cincinnati’s black community, who told Justice Department representatives about having guns pulled on them for no reason.
Cincinnati officers and supervisors have been told not to discuss the recommendations publicly. But many wonder how punitive the new policy might be.
For example, if they work overnight in Over-the-Rhine, might they be punished for drawing their weapons more often than officers who see less violent crime?
“It’s a touchy subject,” said Susan Malie, who works in Pittsburgh’s law department. She monitors that city’s compliance with its agreement with the Justice Department, which started investigating its force five years ago.
Pittsburgh officials discussed but rejected a similar requirement on guns when revising how they report the use of force.
“It’s an officer-safety issue,” Malie said. “We don’t want them to be thinking in the back of their heads when they’re in a situation, ‘Am I going to have to document this?”’
But David Dotson, a former assistant chief of the Los Angeles Police Department who managed that agency’s discipline system, said Cincinnati could use such a policy to refute allegations that they misuse their guns.
“I don’t know if Cincinnati officers, as a matter of practice, screw their guns in people’s ears at the slightest excuse or if it’s just a perception people have,” he said. “I think it could be important to count it for that reason.”
He also noted that the federal recommendations didn’t say to document every time a gun comes out of its holster - just every time it is pointed at someone, “a significant distinction.”
The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., has discussed a similar reporting policy, but a spokesman said Friday no rule was in place.