A federal judge has denied an effort by the Community Police Commission to weigh in against the push by Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice to end court oversight of the police.  

The commission had asked permission to file a friend-of-the-court brief warning against the “premature termination” of the city’s 2015 consent decree, an agreement with the Justice Department to overhaul the police force. The CPC additionally asked to participate in future hearings on ending the consent decree. Its brief also said that City Hall had shown “animosity” toward the commission. 

At a court hearing this week, U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver acknowledged the CPC’s dissatisfaction with Cleveland and the Justice Department’s request to end the decree. But he said it put him in the unusual spot of hearing a dispute between two parts of the same city government. 

On Friday, he denied the CPC’s request. In part, he explained his decision as a way to maintain peace between the CPC and City Hall. 

“Allowing the CPC to enter this litigation as amicus curiae could widen existing disagreements between the City and the Commission, and place the court in the highly unusual position of managing adversarial briefings between the City and one of its own entities,” he wrote. 

Permitting the commission to file a brief could also open the door for other civilian oversight groups, such as the Civilian Police Review Board, to begin providing input, he wrote. Oliver pointed to his decision more than 10 years ago to deny an effort by the Cleveland branch of the NAACP and others to file friend-of-the-court briefs. 

However, Oliver wrote that he recognized that the CPC had a distinct perspective “as the community’s voice.” He advised the commission to share its perspective on police reform directly with Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration, the Justice Department and the consent decree monitoring team. 

The monitoring team has spoken up for the CPC in the past. In 2024, the monitor flagged a dispute over the CPC’s access to city records, Oliver wrote. The judge oversaw a hammering out of a records-sharing agreement. 

The 13-member police commission was created by the consent decree. Voters in 2021 enshrined the CPC into the city’s charter, granting the board new powers over police discipline. 

Oliver has not yet ruled on the motion by the city and federal government to terminate the consent decree.