The group monitoring Cleveland's agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to reform the city's police department has issued its first report, and it's a mixed bag of praise and criticism.
The report filed Thursday in federal court cited progress in the development of a new use-of-force policy for police, criticized a civilian group for its inability to complete investigations of complaints against officers and detailed the city's failure to maintain the police department's core infrastructure. The report is the first since the judge approved the consent decree's first-year monitoring plan in February. The consent decree was signed last year after a DOJ investigation found that Cleveland officers had shown a pattern and practice of using excessive force and violating people's civil rights.