Cleveland Agrees to overhaul Police Department

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland agreed to overhaul its police department under the supervision of an independent monitor in a settlement announced Tuesday with the U.S. Justice Department over a pattern of excessive force and other abuses by officers.

The announcement came three days after a white patrolman was acquitted of manslaughter for his role in a 137-shot barrage of police gunfire that left two unarmed black suspects dead. That case helped prompt an 18-month investigation by the Justice Department, which issued its findings in a scathing report in December.

The settlement — outlined in a 105-page consent decree — calls for new guidelines and training in the use of force; a switch to community policing, in which officers work closely with their neighborhoods; an overhaul of the machinery for investigating misconduct allegations; modernization of police computer technology; and new training in avoiding racial stereotyping and dealing with the mentally ill.

"As we move forward, it is my strong belief that as other cities across this country address and look at their police issues in their communities, they will be able to say, 'Let's look at Cleveland because Cleveland has done it right,'" Mayor Frank Jackson said.

He said that when the reforms take hold, community policing will become "part of our DNA."

The plan is subject to approval by a judge, and an independent monitor will oversee it.

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http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-cleveland-justice-department-reach-policing-deal-044830721.html