Three organizations involved in Cleveland police oversight plan to survey residents as the city pushes to end federal oversight of its police department. But they aren’t working together.
The flurry of surveys comes as the city looks to exit the consent decree. The city has exhaustively chronicled its progress under that 2015 agreement, but it’s been years since an oversight body has formally gauged residents’ trust of Cleveland police.
The lack of coordination prompted Council Member Stephanie Howse-Jones to worry about “survey fatigue” when council’s Safety Committee discussed the topic on Wednesday.
Leigh Anderson, executive director of the city’s Police Accountability Team, told the committee that its survey is nearly completed and that community engagement will begin in the summer.
The accountability team, established by Mayor Justin Bibb in 2022, is working with researchers from Kent State on a project to improve police-community relationships. Much of that project is focused on training, according to a city statement, but it also involves community surveys and listening sessions.
Anderson also said that the Cleveland Community Police Commission and the Cleveland Police Monitoring Team are preparing their own surveys. The commission is a taxpayer-funded but independent body made up of citizens. The monitoring team evaluates the city’s reform progress and reports to the federal judge who oversees the consent decree.
Howse-Jones asked Anderson why three surveys are necessary. Anderson said that the consent decree requires the monitoring team and commission to conduct theirs. The accountability team’s survey is in response to feedback about the need to build trust before ending federal oversight.
“Where is the collective vision? That’s what I’m trying to understand,” said Howse-Jones.
A spokesperson for the commission said it was not invited to participate in the accountability team’s project with Kent State. The spokesperson said that the commission would support “work[ing] with a consulting firm to develop a single, comprehensive survey.”
The leader of the federal monitoring team declined to answer Signal Cleveland’s questions but said that it is in the process of finding and hiring a partner to conduct its survey.
The consent decree says that the monitor should survey residents “regarding their experiences with and perceptions of [Cleveland police] and of public safety” every two years. But the most recent survey report on the monitor’s web site is dated 2018.
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