The Justice Department gave millions of dollars in grant money to the Cleveland police while it was investigating the force for repeated civil rights abuses.
The department’s Civil Rights Division announced Thursday that it discovered the city’s police repeatedly “using unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment” after conducting a two-year long investigation.
But as the Justice Department was compiling an exhaustive list of the cops’ abuses, it was funneling lucrative grant money into the force’s coffers. In September, the Cleveland Division of Police received $1.9 million from the DOJ to hire 15 new officers. It received another grant worth $1.2 million in September of 2013. The DOJ initiated its investigation in March of 2013.
The Sentinel reached out to the Department of Justice for comment and to see if it was considering withdrawing future funding in response to the report’s findings. No response was provided by the time of publication.
Whatever the case, the Justice Department discovered the CDP playing dangerously loose with their weapons with little regard for themselves or members of the community.
“They too often fire their weapons in a manner and in circumstances that place innocent bystanders in danger; and accidentally fire them, sometimes fortuitously hitting nothing and other times shooting people and seriously injuring them,” the report detailed. Police were documented using “deadly force” against “unarmed or fleeing suspects who do not pose a threat of serious harm to officers or others. The DOJ also “discovered incidents in which CDP officers draw their firearms and even point them at suspects too readily and in circumstances in which it is inappropriate.”
Last month, a Cleveland police officer shot and killed a 12-year-old named Tamir Rice. Rice was holding pellet gun at the time of the incident.
That shooting, along with other recent killings in Ferguson, Mo. and New York City–followed by local authorities decision to not charge the cops responsible–have sparked nationwide protests demanding that officers be held accountable for excessive force. It also spurred the Obama Administration to develop new community policing initiatives, and a proposal to fund officer-worn body cameras, to improve trust between cops and minority communities.
The DOJ report into the Cleveland police further confirmed suspicions many in those communities have toward local law enforcement.
“CDP too often polices in a way that contributes to community distrust and a lack of respect for officers,” the report stated. One district station posted a sign outside its vehicle bay reading, “forward operating base,” referring to an outpost in a war zone. “This characterization,” according to the DOJ, “reinforces the view held by some—both inside and outside the Division—that CDP is an occupying force instead of a true partner and resource in the community it serves.”
Also relevant to recent the high profile incidents in Ferguson and New York, the report detailed the failure of Cleveland police to “make effective use of de-escalation techniques.”
And when force is used, the DOJ found that it was “not properly reported, documented, investigated, or addressed with corrective measures.”
“Supervisors throughout the chain of command endorse questionable and sometimes unlawful conduct by officers. We reviewed supervisory investigations of officers’ use of force that appear to be designed from the outset to justify the officers’ actions.”
But the report itself raised questions about the Justice Department’s oversight capabilities given that the it was giving Cleveland Police money while digging up reams of evidence that the force was engaged in unconstitutional behavior.
The Justice Department had also discovered civil rights abuses committed by Cleveland police more than ten years ago, the report noted.
“It is clear…many of the policy and practice reforms that were initiated in response to our 2004 memorandum agreement were either not fully implemented or, if implemented, were not maintained over time.”
The agreement between the Justice Department and the Cleveland police after the 2004 investigation was not enforceable by a court, however. An agreement between the two bodies after the most recent investigation will be, however, in addition to being subject to an “independent monitor.”
At a Senate hearing in September, officials administering federal programs that transfer surplus military equipment to local police testified that ongoing DOJ civil rights investigations do not disqualify a department from receiving grant money or new equipment.
The Justice Department is currently investigating possible civil rights abuses in the Ferguson killing of Michael Brown and the Staten Island killing of Eric Garner.
