Department of Justice reaches settlement with Cleveland over police misconduct

The Justice Department has reached a settlement with the city of Cleveland over police misconduct, reports the Washington Post.

The settlement announcement comes amid the growing national debate about American policing, following a string of high-profile death of Black men at the hands of police officers.

Recently, the residents of Cleveland protested after an officer was not charged with killing an unarmed couple.

Cleveland Police Misconduct

The Justice Department in December issued a damaging report that accused the Cleveland Police Department of illegally using deadly force against citizens.

The Justice Department’s civil rights division found that the Cleveland police engaged in a “pattern or practice” of unnecessary force — including shooting residents, striking them in the head and spraying them with chemicals.

Report

The Cleveland police misconduct report was released the month after a 12-year-old African American boy, Tamir Rice, was fatally shot by a white Cleveland police officer.

Tamir Rice

Cleveland officers had responded to a 911 call that reported a person pointing a gun. It turned out to be a toy pistol.

According the Washington Post, in the past five years, the Justice Department’s civil rights division has opened more than 20 investigations of police departments across the country, more than twice as many as were opened in the previous five.

The department has entered into 15 agreements with law enforcement agencies, including consent decrees with nine of them. They include the New Orleans and Albuquerque police departments.

The Cleveland settlement will be the first under the new attorney general, Loretta E. Lynch.