Department Of Justice Unveils Settlement To Reform Cleveland Police

Published May 26, 2015 at 12:52 PM CDT

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder holds a roundtable meeting with law enforcement, local officials, and community leaders to discuss the U.S. Department of Justice's report on excessive police force and violence in Cleveland, Dec. 4, 2014. Today, Cleveland waits for the Department of Justice's police statement. (Tony Dejak/AP)

The Department of Justice is announcing a settlement to reform the Cleveland police department’s policing tactics, months after a scathing DOJ report found unnecessary and excessive use of force by patrol officers.

The settlement is expected just days after the acquittal of a white Cleveland police officer accused of manslaughter in the deaths of two unarmed black suspects in 2012.

Police were involved in two other high-profile deaths in Cleveland last year: 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was shot by police who mistook his toy gun for a real gun, and 37-year-old Tanisha Anderson, a mentally ill woman who died when police restrained her for disturbing the peace. The Justice Department previously investigated Cleveland police tactics in 2004.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young talks with Joe Worthy, the director of youth leadership and organizing for the Children’s Defense Fund in Cleveland about the settlement for reform and what it means for Cleveland police and citizens.

Guest

Ronnie Dunn, professor of urban studies at Cleveland State University.

Note: In an earlier version of this story, we spoke with Joseph Worthy, director of youth leadership and organizing at the Children’s Defense Fund in Ohio.