The U.S. Department of Justice is urging the Cleveland Division of Police to create new promotion practices after an officer was promoted to sergeant despite having 16 administrative violations on his record in 2017.
The Cleveland Police Monitoring Team raised the issue in its most recent semiannual report. The Cleveland Police Monitoring Team oversees and measures police reform and reports to Senior U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr., who oversees the consent decree between the city and the Department of Justice. About twice a year, the monitoring team reports on progress.
The monitoring team said it’s ready to work with the city on the consent decree’s performance and promotions requirements once the city “signals it is ready to dedicate time and resources to this important effort.”
At a hearing before Judge Oliver on Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Heyer cited the officer promoted to sergeant to illustrate concerns with promotion practices.
In 2017, officer Steven Fedorko falsely accused Jo-Nathan Luton of kicking him and breaking his toe, Heyer said. Fedorko’s toe was broken by another officer who threw a heavy object, she said.
Luton spent almost nine months in jail and was freed when the lie came to light, Heyer said.
Fedorko used improper force and twisted Luton’s leg during the arrest, Heyer said. He later joked about hearing Luton’s ankle crack and told other officers he “got in a bad fight with an a-hole I should’ve just shot,” Heyer said.
The Cleveland police chief at the time, Calvin Williams, recommended firing Fedorko. Instead, the Public Safety Director at the time, Michael McGrath, suspended Fedorko for 30 days.
New policies would ‘avoid such gaffes’
Today, “dishonesty would lead to termination,” Heyer said.
The police department’s process for discipline has changed since Cleveland voters gave the Civilian Police Review Board and the Community Police Commission authority over disciplinary decisions.
But officers with past violations can still be promoted. In this case, Fedorko is now a sergeant “with a history of lying in police reports,” in charge of reviewing other officers’ reports for use of force, Heyer said. She said developing new promotion practices should be a priority for the city next year.
In its semiannual report, the monitoring team said the city has not created or adopted “proper performance review processes that are objective and relevant and has been equally slow in adopting contemporary promotional processes. Together, these processes would guide decision-making to avoid such gaffes” as Fedorko’s promotion.
Cleveland’s consent decree
The consent decree is an agreement between Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice that requires police reforms. It came after a federal investigation that found a “pattern and practice” of police officers violating the rights of residents and using excessive force. The city and the federal government signed the agreement in 2015.
Currently, police and public safety leaders look at an officer’s evaluations and disciplinary records when considering whether to promote someone, said Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy “Annie” Todd. Those records and the civil service test, and results of the civil service exam, determine whether a person gets promoted. Fedorko didn’t have anything on his disciplinary file in recent years, Todd told Signal Cleveland.
The police department has a three-year rule that limits progressive discipline, meaning they can’t consider records older than three years when disciplining an officer. But the city incorrectly applied the rule to promotions, Heyer said at the hearing.
New promotion policies coming in 2025
Addressing Fedorko’s case before Judge Oliver, Todd said, “We all have concerns,” but “the results were the results.”
“At what point do you consider someone reformed?” Todd said at the hearing. “And at what point do you tell someone they will never be reformed?”
She said Fedorko is one of several sergeants on his shift and is supervised by a lieutenant. His work will be monitored to make sure he’s complying with department policies, Todd said.
Jason Shachner, assistant director of public safety, said at the hearing that his main focus has been to work on a new promotion policy. Shachner said the department wants to review an officer’s use-of-force records, community policing records and body camera footage to decide whether that officer has the right temperament for a higher position.
The goal is to have a new promotion policy by the first half of 2025, Shachner told Judge Oliver.
