CLEVELAND – An ongoing debate about the validity of the Cleveland Police Department’s federal consent decree reached a climax when the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP disproved statements by the Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Association that the decree would affect city safety.
Cleveland NAACP President Danielle Sydnor told News 5 that police reform in Cleveland has a long way to go and police accountability must be maintained through consent decree.
“I can’t take that as a real statement that officials are afraid to do their job,” said Sydnor.
“It is sad to hear the union say, because officials are now being held accountable in a way that has never been done before, that they are afraid to do the right thing, which is their job.”
“When it comes to the consent decree, the community should really be the one who decides when the job is done because we will see the improvements, we will see less escalation of violence.”
Last week, CPPA President Jeff Follmer said the consent decree is no longer needed and officials are afraid to do their job due to increased police accountability.
Follmer demanded that Cleveland Public Safety Director Karrie Howard resigns and said the consent decree was a factor in the increase in gun violence in 2021 as officials fear being fired or suspended.
He said 13 Cleveland officials were laid off last year, five of them just last week.
“Our officials want to reclaim the streets for law-abiding citizens, but we can’t because we fear being disciplined or fired,” said Follmer.
“The homicide rate is insane and we’re still looking for police accountability, how about the police doing their job and maybe some of those numbers are going down.”
“We have civil review teams, we have internal affairs, we have inspections, we have everyone watching us. It is time to take back the city for all law abiding citizens. ”
“If you look at the statistics and the number of city crimes and violent crimes, the numbers won’t weigh up the responsibility everyone wants to bring against us.”
However, Black on Black Crime President Al Porter said the surge in violent crime in Cleveland in 2021 was due to the city’s current economic conditions.
Porter and other civil rights groups are organizing a rally outside Cleveland City Hall on June 9, starting at 5:15 p.m. in support of the Justice Department’s approval decree.
Porter said it would be a mistake to take back federal police oversight as he believes much more systemic changes are needed in the way Cleveland police force interacts with the African American community.
“There’s no way, shape, form or way that they have to get rid of the consent decree,” Porter said. “You still have cops who ignore their superiors, you still have public suspicion.”
“The Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Association is not committed to the community. So we needed the consent decree, an impartial system to check the police, because it is unfortunate, but the police cannot or will not monitor themselves. ”
