When the city of Cleveland expanded the power of its Community Police Commission in 2021, it gave the oversight board final say on police training, policy, and discipline. It came at a time when the country seemed ready to take policing in another direction.
City leaders, activists, and reform advocates in Cleveland were excited to give the Commission more oversight over the department. “This is the end of the status quo, where you can just follow the protocol without being accountable to the people you serve. That day has ended today,” local activist Fred Ward said at the time of the expansion. “And this is a beautiful day for the city of Cleveland.”
But five years later, it looks very different. The city is now locked in a dispute with the commission on how much control the oversight board should have over the department. Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb also wants to end the federal monitoring of the city’s police, but the commission doesn’t agree. What once looked like a collaborative relationship between the city and reformers has given way to conflict.
It’s just one example of the current era of law enforcement accountability in America.
Over the past several years, there’s been a subtle rollback of efforts to reform police departments as the public has moved on from probing how law enforcement agencies police communities nationwide.
It goes far beyond Cleveland and touches on many areas where improving police tactics and strategies was a top priority.
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