Pam Bondi took her oath of office Wednesday as the nation's new attorney general. When she got to her desk at the Department of Justice, she likely found a letter from Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno waiting for her. In it, he asks her to take a closer look at the consent decree entered into a decade ago between the Justice Department and Cleveland Police.
“Law enforcement officers need to be able to do their jobs and enforce the law without politicians holding them back,” said Moreno. “That’s why I’m urging Attorney General Bondi to finally reexamine consent decree policies like we’ve seen in Cleveland to help restore public safety.”
The decree came following a series of high-profile incidents in which the Justice Department found Cleveland Police engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force.
Over the last decade, there have been twice-a-year updates on the city's progress, with the latest last fall citing progress in areas like Community-oriented and Problem Policing, Crisis Intervention, Accountability, Officer Support and Transparency.
However, it also highlighted areas where work is needed. A consent decree has no end date; that comes at the discretion of the Federal Judge overseeing the progress. Moreno's letter asks the Attorney General to examine whether the procedural requirements needed to make the consent decree valid and enforceable were followed a decade ago.
"Senator Moreno is suggesting that maybe those requirements were not satisfied," said Case Western University School of Law's Jonathan Entin. "And if that is the case and I don't know the answer to that question."
He says that if the DOJ didn't satisfy those requirements under President Obama, the Attorney General could go into court and drop the consent decree.
At Cleveland City Hall, Councilman Michael Polensek, chair of the Public Safety Committee, says it should be considered.
"I believe there's been big improvements within the Cleveland Division of Police from the standpoint of accountability, professional conduct and transparency but I'm also mindful of how we got here," said Polensek. "There was a lacking of oversight and I don't know if you want to call it incompetence, malfeasance or whatever but when you have citizens who had what they thought to be legitimate complaints against police officers and it took five to six years to get those complaints heard, that's outrageous."
In 2015, News 5 interviewed Polensek about the decree's price tag: Thirteen million dollars in the first year, projected to be around $8 million a year afterward. He says it's a meter that continues to run.
"The Federal monitor, right now as I'm sitting here doing this interview with you, we pay him $750 an hour." He said they're having staff tally up the running cost. "What that has cost us and then what we had to implement internally with the creation of the departments within the city for police oversight. Again we've spent millions and millions of dollars."
A spokesperson for Mayor Bibb tells News 5, "We were just made aware of this through the press yesterday. We will have more to say if and when a decision is made since it appears these are just conversations at this point."
Not getting too far ahead on this might be wise, says Entin, since the legal case Moreno cited that opened the door to these decrees being thrown out occurred years before Cleveland's was written.
"I would think that the Justice Department would have been aware of those requirements but again things, the ball gets dropped sometimes it's possible."
You can read the full letter below:
"The Honorable Pamela Bondi
Attorney General
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20530
Re: Police Consent Decrees and Notices of Dismissal
Dear Attorney General Bondi:
Congratulations on your recent confirmation. I have no doubt you will restore integrity to the Department of Justice (“DOJ"). I write today to request additional information regarding your position on utilizing a notice of voluntary dismissal pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(i) to end consent decrees with state and local governments when a prior administration failed to follow the procedures as set forth by Justice Scalia in Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of America, 511 U.S. 375, 381 (1994). As I am sure you are aware, pursuant to Kokkonen, an actual dismissal entry must provide continuing jurisdiction to enforce a settlement agreement. Suppose there is no actual dismissal entry, absent a filing of an answer or summary judgment motion. In that case, the litigation remains a live "case or controversy," which can be voluntarily dismissed under Rule 41(a). I am drawing your attention to this important question because it is my understanding, for example, in United States v. City of Cleveland, 1:15-cv-01046 (N.D. Ohio 2015), that the Obama DOJ failed to file a dismissal entry. Therefore, I respectfully request the following: (1) you review the PACER docket to identify any cities that are impacted by prior administrations' failures to adhere to the procedures set forth by Justice Scalia in Kokkonen; (2) report any cities identified to my office; (3) report the DOJ's position regarding utilizing a notice of voluntary dismissal pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(i) to my office; and (4) share any subsequent formal policy or memoranda issued regarding the DOJ's position on ending consent decrees against state or local governmental entities with my office.
Sincerely,
BERNIE MORENO
United States Senator
Black Lives Matter Cleveland, Citizens for a Safer Cleveland, and the Tamir Rice Foundation condemn request
Late Wednesday afternoon, News 5 received a statement from the three organizations that read, in part:
Senator Bernie Moreno (Westlake Republican) has called for a review of the consent decree in Cleveland and other cities. While we hope that the parties involved in this agreement continue to work together to transform the longstanding culture of the Cleveland Division of Police, we are concerned that an early departure from the consent decree could undermine the progress made in improving the culture of policing in Cleveland. As we near the 10th anniversary of the Cleveland Consent Decree, much work remains to achieve full compliance with its mandates. We must acknowledge the fact that the Cleveland Division of Police has a history and culture of unconstitutional policing and has continued to delay the progress of implementing transformative police reform. Voluntarily dismissing the consent decree would be a grave injustice and further erode the trust between law enforcement and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect.
What is the consent decree?
The consent decree was issued by the Department of Justice in 2015 following questionable use of force in the fatal police shootings of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in what came to be known as the “137 Shots” incident.
The city had hoped that it would be in compliance with the terms of the decree and that it would have been lifted in five years. In 2018, city leaders realized the necessary reforms would not be possible within five years, and in 2022, the decree was extended for two more years.
In 2023, Cleveland asked for public input for the city's next monitoring team.
RELATED: Cleveland seeking public input on next monitoring team for police force's federal consent decree
